The Turbo Modula-2 User's Guide
===============================
Some Notes and Comments
Glenn Brooke 12/29/86
Disclaimer 1 : I have no commercial or monetary interests in
Borland International or Echelon Inc. These are strictly
personal notes and comments, constituting one individual's
perspective.
Disclaimer 2 : I have only used Turbo Modula-2 for a short while.
I will therefore limit my comments to the Guide.
**** General impression : THIS IS AN EXCELLENT MANUAL! ****
PHYSICAL FORM
=============
The Guide is a quality paperbound publication, quite sturdy.
It should hold up well to programmer abuse. This is a big
manual; there are 544 pages of dense print. I doubt anyone will
complain about lack of information here! It would be terrific if
the guide laid flat, since part of it serves as a reference Guide
for the libraries and will be in regular use beside the keyboard,
but my magazine holder works just fine. Some weak-eyes folks may
wish for larger type, too, particularly in dim light. The
layout itself is readable and well organized. The detailed table
of contents, list of tables and figures, and index are a delight
to use.
OVERVIEW OF CONTENTS
====================
There are four areas to the Guide: an introduction, the
module library, a reference section, and appendices. There are
twelve chapters covering startup and configuration, Modula-2
language structure, elements, and basic programming strategy,
more advanced topics (such as system-specific details,
extensions, low-level facilities), use of the
editor/compiler/linker shell and utilities, complete discussion
of the library modules (14 modules, over 100 procedures), and the
extensive (280 pages!) look-up reference section of every
language feature, extension, and procedure in the Turbo Modula-2
implementation. Six appendices cover the differences between
Modula-2 and Pascal, detailed installations instructions,
compiler directives, error messages/definitions/diagnosis (quite
well done!), BNF syntax diagrams, and special features of the
SB180-specific compiler.
This is a lot of information! I'm certain that most of the
programmer's questions will be answered by a simple check of the
manual. This Guide beats those packaged with the FTL and
Logitech implementations hands down, in my opinion.
QUALITY OF WRITING
==================
Ok, so there is a lot of information. Is it organized and
presented in a clear, readable, usable fashion? That's the true
test of a manual, isn't it?
I had absolutely no trouble following the installation
instructions and compiling the sample programs provided, using
the information in chapter 1 ("Getting Started"). As a further
test, however, I let Cathy, my fiance, do the same thing from
scratch, using only the manual. Cathy is an intelligent but
computer-naive user. She got it perfectly the first time.
The Guide has a wonderful tone, talking with the user as an
intelligent person with real questions. There are many
suggestions for using the compiler options, for instance, and
better yet, explanations of why errors may occur and different
methods to circumvent them. Not hand-holding, insulting
descriptions, but friendly explanations. I found this quite
refreshing after reading several insulting (even worse, useless
or just plain wrong) manuals over the past years.
Anyone seriously interested in learning about Turbo Modula-2
will have little trouble with this Guide. You won't have to be
an expert programmer to dig out the information, you won't have
to wade through insulting prose, and above all you won't have
(many) unanswered questions.
USER'S GUIDE AND USING TURBO MODULA-2
=====================================
I can honestly tell you that you must have the Guide to make
full use of the compiler/editor/linker system. You can hardly
imagine the wealth of information about the libraries (which you
must know before you can really use them in programs), compiler
and linking options, and extensions to standard (Wirth-defined)
Modula-2 that you will never discover without the Guide. I am
glad for this; it should severely curtail pirating, ensuring that
Echelon and Borland receive their just rewards.
I hope that no one examines the compiler without the Guide
and proceeds to make reviews, because you might as well buy a car
based upon the brochure's description of the ride. Get the whole
picture; get the Guide.
This means, of course, that you will be using the Guide
quite a bit, at least initially. That's fine. You would do that
with any new implementation of any language, and for once you
have a Guide worth taking along on your adventures!
LEARNING MODULA-2 FROM THE GUIDE
================================
The Guide makes a good effort to teach Modula-2 principles
and practice. If you already know even a little Modula-2, the
Guide will be sufficient to bring you up to speed. If you are
familiar with Pascal, the Guide will almost certainly contain
enough information for you to learn Modula-2 (see the excellent
comparison of Pascal and Modula-2 in Appendix A). If you are
comfortable with another structured high level language (like C),
the Guide will be an excellent start to learning Modula-2,
although you may want to study other introductions to Modula-2.
If you are new to programming in structured high level languages,
I would seriously advise you to read other introductory books on
Modula-2 in addition to the Guide; the Guide does not contain an
extensive tutorial that would be helpful to real novices.
SUMMATION
=========
The User's Guide is excellent. Turbo Modula-2 (by all
accounts so far) is excellent. Get it! No point in saying more.
