Subj : Pascal rolecall!
To   : James Coyle
From : Vince Coen
Date : Mon Apr 08 2013 14:13:32

Hello James!

07 Apr 13 16:04, you wrote to me:

 VC>> Used to, last was re-issuing FileMgr now left on sourceforge as
 VC>> Open Source. Written in TP. Did consider migrating it over to
 VC>> Free Pascal but decided it was to complex for my old brain !!

 > Free Pascal isn't so bad coming from TP.  They have a lot of nearly
 > compatible Units that work like TP counterparts (DOS, CRT, etc).
 > Those units can really help soften the transition.

 > I think you can find a lot of similar string functions in SysUtils (to
 > help replace all of those TP assembler string functions that just
 > about everyone was using back in the day!)

That was my main reason for not migrating, as my pascal is rusty and there is 
lot of assembler both in & outline.

The code was taken over from the original programmer after I said I would move
it to OS however that said I do not think many people use it eg, 10 < so any
effort by me would be wasted as no doubt it would take a lot of time tryinmg
to remember Pascal and to look for suitable replacement string functions to
slip in.

Of course if I was not rusty it could be done in under a day.

As you may note from my tags I run mbse under Linux which has the source code.

I did take a look at mystic and at one point had a test system up but now a
days will not use any programs unless I have the source. If nothing else in
case I wish to tinker but more importantly so the code can be checked for 
holes
etc.

With mbse one item is missing, and that is a editor for changing the file
descriptions that are loaded to a database. I find these day that programmers
seem to want to write a book as a description with a lot of boxes and such.

This type of thing always seems to need changing which I admit is a bit time
consuming!

I did use a BBS system called Adept running on OS/2 and that had some good
tools but is written in C++, not a language I know but I have now released all
of the source code for it from a 3/4 programmers that all had their own
variations.

[Avaiable from my BBS at http://applewoodbbs.mine.nu and download area 21].

It runs to around 50Mb archived and when I had a look at it even with my
limited knowledge of C++ think it will migrate to Linux without major issues.

More of a case of, is it needed these days :)




Vince

--- Linux/Mbse/GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20120229
 * Origin: Air Applewood, The Linux Gateway to the UK (2:250/1)

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