Re: Converting Pascal to C++, C# or VB

Steve wrote:
> I have some legacy machine control code written in ISO std Pascal that I
> would like to convert to one of the languages supported by our current
> development environment : MS Visual Studio .NET 2003. So that means C++, C
> sharp or VB.




ooops. :(


Then you might use F# ?


It's an (incomplete) OCaml port for M$.


      http://research.microsoft.com/fsharp/fsharp.aspx


Some things might look a littlebid pascal-like,
so porting might be easier than to the ugly languages
from the C-family.


> It's a big chunk of code - about 500k lines in 200 files. I currently have a
> translator that converts it to Delphi. This enables us to run it on a PC,
> but it will not fit easily with our newer code which is in C++ and C#. ...


There should be similarities in the constants-thing I think.


> So the question is which language to use? I know C++ a little, but the other
> two are new to me.


C++ is ugly.


If the OCaml-port to M$ was not too bad then you should use this.




> So far the main obstacle I can see with C++ is the nested routines of
> Pascal.


What do you mean with nested routines? Example?


Do you mean (mutual) recursion or what?




  > I don't know of any way to do this in C++.


you might explain what you mean...
...maybe you can write it in C++ in a different way.


But I would not say use C++ as you has seen I
would use ifferent languages.




  > Initial investigation
> suggests that the struct in C# might be a suitable alternative. It has to
> allow access to constants, types and variables declared in an outer scope.


In Ocaml you can create types like this one:


type my_type = A of int | B of char | C of string


I think F# should do it similar.


And then you have pattern matching and that stuff, which
makes programming really a fun! :)




>
> We also have a few instances of Pascal procedural parameters. Can these be
> emulated?


example?
I once did some Pascal programming but it's a while ago and
I'm not as experienced with it like in C or Ocaml.




example-code?




>
> Fortunately no-one ever used conformant arrays. :)


unknwon term "conformant array".


Explanation for an not-so experenced Pascal-programmer?


Ciao,
        Oliver

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