Subj : Re: Pascal vs C++
To   : Wayne Harms
From : Scott Adams
Date : Wed Oct 16 2002 04:05 am

 -=> Quoting Wayne Harms to Scott Adams <=-

 SA>        Yeah.  I've done pascal since the early '80s though
 SA>        technically my first language was basic as it was for
 SA>        everyone then.  Since then I've tried to learn more and up to
 SA>        about 26 langauges through college and work.  But I still
 SA>        come back to pascal for home coding since its the easiest and
 SA>        less stressful than say C which I may do at work all day.  As
 SA>        to open sourcing yes, its alot of material to deal with and
 SA>        can get bogged down in things.


 WH> Just a bit curious about the main difference between Turbo Pascal ver 
 WH> 7.0 and C++. Both look like they are structured the same but hows the 
 WH> processing speed of the 2, which processes information faster?

        Well C tends to sometimes be more bottom level coding in
        terms of being at the lowest level (though ASMembly is).
        Pascal gets that way but its more oriented toward human
        interaction.  Pascal uses english like structures that
        use common sense in alot of ways whereas C tends to
        use cryptic keywords and structures that at first glance
        isn't english but alien to many.  TP7 didn't do OOP
        (object oriented programming) at that point I believe
        the first...no wait..7 may have..hmm..I think I went
        to tp5 to bp7..I know bp7 did but I dont' recall tp7
        though i think it had OWL and other OOP oriented stuff
        in it..err..I'm babbling..

        While in many ways they are two distinct languages they
        really aren't.

        In terms of speed and efficiency.

        Its debatable and has been a debate in the fido pascal
        and C echos for over a decade.  But it boils down to
        one thing programming ability and skill level.  In the
        end its not the type of keywords english or cryptic
        since that gets broken down into machine code but its
        a matter of how you code things.

        A simple loop can slow down a program greatly by
        a simple mistake in both languages but its the
        skill of the coder to know that mistake can work
        or not work.  So don't be swayed by things like
        which is a better language but just develop your
        own skills and then go from there.

        I use both and a dozen or so other languages.  If
        you really in truly want speed and efficiency then
        go assembly but even then today's compilers are so
        advanced its a non-issue.  I use C for most contracts
        but use pascal at home.  I'm an expert in pascal
        but in C I still need the bloody online help :)

        The issues of speed and efficiency died years ago
        with the speed of computers today its a waste
        to really consider unless your just writing some
        real time intensive programs.


        For years folks say C does better things than pascal
        and vice versus.  But over the years we've shown
        that's a myth.  Its programmer ability not lines
        of code.



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