Date   : Mon, 27 Jun 1988 16:24:34 IST
From   : "Jacques J. Goldberg" <PHR00JG%TECHNION.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: My request for a lead to Polydata COMPAS (Z-80)

Two of you have answered, proposing to give me Polydata's new address.
I replied privately following the e-mailer reply path shown: the NORDITA
mailer rejected the mail. I tried an alternate, got no reply from you:
Ole Lennert and/or Kristian Damm Jensen, THANK YOU FOR ANSWERING.
Please write me the address of Polydata; if easy for you, please PHONE
them, ask if COMPAS-80 still available and at what cost (I can read just
about any CPM/80 5in1/4 diskette.)

Bill Pechter quoted that COMPAS and Turbo-Pascal could have some family
relationship. I confirm, comparing MSDOS-COMPAS with TurboPascal-3.00!
When two compilers produce the same expected result, there is no proof
that they have anything in common, but when both produce the same UNEXPECTED
result, there MAY be something in common...

Try this with your Pascal system [taken from a Pascal course semestrial test,
where probably the author of the question, what does it do, hadn't tried out..]

program tryit(input,output);
procedure readwrite;
var nextchar:char;
begin
  read(nextchar); if nextchar <> ' ' then readwrite; write(nextchar);
end;
begin
writeln('Type in a sweet word, end with one space');
readwrite
end.

What does it do?
The intention is, store the word typed until a space is met, then write
it reversed, preceded by a space.
In fact, it does not work on any of the machines I tried.
Usually ( Unix, VAX-VMS, IBM-PASCALVS, Waterloo-Pascal, Microsoft PASCAL
under MS-DOS), it works Ok but only after the input string is followed
by a carriage return (that is, writing does NOT start as soon as the
terminating space is typed - systemwise, this makes sense, by the way).
TurboPascal and COMPAS produce only the first character of the original
string, that is, that one which should have been shown last.

Jacques Goldberg [phr00jg@technion.bitnet]


End of INFO-CPM Digest
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