Date   : Mon, 29 Jul 1985 21:39:26 EDT
From   : Rex Buddenberg <BUDDENBERGRA@USC-ISI.ARPA>
Subject: Modula II (Turbo)

                  TURBO-MODULA-II IS NEARLY HERE

     For those of you who wanted a large-program, modern,

structured language in a usable implementation, for REAL

computers (Z80 types, 8088's need not apply), there is hope.

Allow me to present the evidence.

     This past weekend, I had the priviledge of attending SOG-IV,

Dave Thompson's (MicroCornucopia) annual picnic and computerists

whing-ding.  Philippe Kahn didn't make it this year, but sent

Mike Weisert, one of Borland's programmers instead.  Mike's topic

was "Intro to Modula-II & the Borland Implementation".  After

comparing and contrasting Pascal and Modula for a while, he got

to the important points:  how Borland was building the compiler.

Selected tidbits (those that my brain retained):

     -  The compiler actually exists.  Mike had a Kaypro with the

compiler up and running.  The top menu looks (strangely) like the

Turbo-Pascal menu.  The editor is the same too.  Borland is

adhering to the Rev-3 Modula specification.

     -  Because Modula has separate compilation as part of the

compiler specification rather than part of the implementation,

the compiler compiles to disk.  Sorry, no in-RAM compilation.

The top menu also directly  calls  the  linker.
   The  demo  program  used  some
familiar modules adapted from the Turbo-tools

ACCESS.BOX package, so I expect to see them available too.

  Dates weren't

mentioned, but the product demo was real enough to convince me

that this wasn't vapor.

The CPM version was the one shown.  The MS-DOS version is not

nearly as far along and Mike offered no prognostication regarding

its availability.  8088 owners...suffer!  Mike wouldn't quote a

specific price, but said "under $100".