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.