Hello, Arcadio, hello, GPC-list!

I just downloaded the precompiled ELF binary version of "Turbo" GPC for Linux. I've been playing around with it for the past few minutes, but I can't seem to be able to figure out how to make and use Borland Pascal UNITs.

If you are speaking of the binaries on kampi.hut.fi or ftp.uni-augsburg.de: those are a.out binaries, no elf binaries. If you really have found elf binaries, please tell the gpc-list where you got them from!

To try it out, I made a simple program (test1.p) that called the procedure "Intro" which was in another unit (unit1.p). I first compiled the unit (thinking that gpc doesn't have a built-in make like BPC/TPC does)

That's correct. :-(

with the following command line: "gpc -c unit1.p". I then proceeded to compile and link test1.p -- but as I expected it didn't work. I get the message: "No exported interface matching 'Unit1'' "undeclared indentifier 'Intro' .....'

Unfortunately, that's correct, too. In the moment, Extended Pascal modules and Turbo Pascal units are not yet fully implemented. It is necessary to have at least the Interface module in the same source file as the calling program (or module). I have some ideas how to fix it, but this will take some time. Up to that day, I am using the following (ugly) construction: Assume a unit (or module) being in "mymodule.pas" and the program being in "myprogram.pas". Then I include "mymodule.pas" into "myprogram.pas" using the preprocessor:

(*I MyModule *) #include "mymodule.pas"

Program MyProgram; Program MyProgram; or uses uses MyModule; MyModule;

... ...

As long as this is necessary, Extended Pascal modules have the advantage that the interface and implementation part are in two separated source files and it is sufficient to include the interface module, while Turbo Pascal units have to be recompiled each time the program is compiled, which is of course not the purpose of the unit concept. But since I am very incontent with this situation, there is hope that I will change it not too far away in the future.

How goes the work on "Turbo" GPC?

In the moment, I am working on my Ph. D. thesis, so I don't have much time for working on GPC. But I promise that I will continue this work even more intensively, once I am Ph. D. (Doctor) which will be the case somewhere in the second half of 1996.

... He also said that he was gonna put the new Object Pascal standard up for ftping as well ... so perhaps Object Pascal can be incorporated into GPC ... shouldn't be too hard now ... with "Borland Pascal with Objects" already in place.

Perhaps I will have a look at it. I am going to re-implement objects in complete to make them work better with the debugger and to make them compatible to C++ classes (which is *not* the case in the moment) inclu- ding multi-inheritance, which -- as far as I know -- has never been seen in Pascal up to now. And I think about implementing more features of the Pascal-SC standard which would make GPC *very* useful for scientific applications.

But there is yet another branch of the GNU Pascal project I am working on: Did you look at my BO5 library? It should be in the same directory as the turbo-alpha stuff and includes a nice README.BO5 file. (Another nice place for it would be the contrib directory.) Try it! :-)

Greetings,

Peter

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dipl. Phys. Peter Gerwinski Fachbereich Physik Universitaet-GH Essen Phone: +49-201-183-2763 D-45117 Essen Fax: +49-201-183-2120 Germany e-mail: pege@mail.theo-phys.uni-essen.de --------------------------------------------------------------------------------