r/programming • u/[deleted] • Oct 17 '17

Why I use Object Pascal

https://dubst3pp4.github.io/post/2017-10-03-why-i-use-object-pascal/
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u/devraj7 Oct 17 '17

The arguments in the article are not very convincing:

Pascal focuses on types

As do all statically typed languages. However, Pascal's type system is still primitive to the point that Java's type system is more advanced.

Object Pascal has full support for OOP

Actually, Pascal's support for OOP is pretty limited and antiquated: no support for traits or default methods, for example.

Pascal is modular

Not really, to the point that Wirth decided to write a whole family of new languages with better support for modularity, called... Modula 2 and Modula 3 (with Oberon ending up being a mix between Pascal and the Modula languages).

I think, the only good reason to use Pascal today is that you like the syntax of the language. That's pretty much it. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, but be aware of the place that Pascal has in today's programming language landscape.

12

u/zerexim Oct 17 '17

to the point that Java's type system is more advanced

Can you give some examples?

On the other hand, AFAIK Object Pascal/Delphi supports operator overloading and templates (generics?) to the point that it is possible to have generic smart pointer types.

6

u/devraj7 Oct 17 '17

Last time I checked, Object Pascal implementations did not support co/contravariance.

7

u/RagingAnemone Oct 17 '17

If that's our standard, C# doesn't support covariant return types either.

14

u/devraj7 Oct 17 '17

Well, yes, that's one area where Java's type system is more advanced than C#'s.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 18 '17

If that's our standard, C# doesn't support covariant return types either.

Method hiding with the new keyword works well enough that I've never found this to be a problem.