Cosmos1 Solar Sail

This space vehicle has been launched to test whether the sun winds can drive a satellite without an own motor. The control equipment is partially build with AVRs.

All AVRs are programmed with the E-LAB AVRco Profi version Pascal development system.

We at E-LAB Computers are very proud about the fact that our development system was choosen to build the firmware of the build-in AVRs.
 
 
Top 10 reasons why Pascal is better than C

1. Pascal, noble language as it is, was named after a famous French mathematician and
philosopher, Blaise Pascal. C was named after a Sesame Street character.

2. Pascal's inventor, Nicholaus Wirth, and parameter passing conventions coalesce to
form a nifty pun: You can pronounce his name by reference: Wirth or by value: Worth.
C was invented at Bell Labs, where they wouldn't know a joke from a transistor.

3. There is only one Pascal, as defined by Wirth, while C has (shall we say?) several
fathers: Kernighan & Ritchie, Harbison & Steele, Barnum & Bailey, and Laurel & Hardy.

4. In C, the following variable names are all different: thesame, TheSame, theSame, and
THESAME. Nuff said.

5. In Pascal, when you fool with a pointer or handle, you know you're fooling around with a
pointer or handle. In C, you could be fooling around with anything.
C is the ultimate language for computational promiscuity.

6. In Pascal, we *know* how big an integer is.

7. C is used by liberal, Democratic, Mike Dukakis types of programmers. Pascal is a favorite
of the GOP. Hey, we know what the big language at Berkeley is, don't we?

8. C is the only language in the civilized world that still refuses to recognize the $ sign for a
hexadecimal constant and continues to promote that base pretender to the throne: 0x00.

9. Pascal has well-defined rules for Scope, while C appears to be using Listerine. This
accounts for the medicine breath of many C programmers.

10. In C, you can do this:

 for(;P("\n").R-;P("|"))for(e=3DC;e-;P("_"+(*u++/8)%2))P("| "+(*u/4)%2);

In Pascal, you CAN'T do this :

for(;P("\n").R-;P("|"))for(e=3DC;e-;P("_"+(*u++/8)%2))P("| "+(*u/4)%2);
 
 
Linux
In the Linux scene some Linux freaks joined together to build a Visual Design and Compile System like Visual Basic, Visual C++, Delphi etc. There are two workgroups until now, both porting a Borland Delphi compatibel system to Linux. There is no C++ porting in sight. Also Visual Basic is not visible at the horizon.

On their homepage are some FAQs concerning their decision for a Pascal system and not a C++. Remember, Linux is an absolute C++ system and all Linux programmers are normally C++ fans and Pascal was a historical language for them til now.

Why Delphi's Object Pascal?
Because this language is both complicated - exceptions, multiple Java style inheritance, method overloading, built-in Corba support, direct memory management and so on, and very suitable for RAD (properties, event driven system just inside the language, special class clause "published" used to show properties values).

Why not C++?
Because C++ can not be easily adjusted to RAD environment. C++ wasn't designed for it.

If they get success, the application programming scene will resp. must switch to Pascal, because there will be no other RAD system for Linux in the near future.
 
Customer's opinions
I just got your little programmer and am very happy.

Your products are very well designed and very productive use. Compared to other tools such as the Avr isp mk2, we have all parameters on a single page and it is very convenient and effective.

I have been using your Pascal for several days on a 4414 and I am
getting to know it well. Your attention to detail is impressive. I
have nothing but praise for your work. If a team of programmers had
developed this product, I would call their work "outstanding." But,
since it was developed by just one person, I call it a "masterpiece."
It is indeed a pleasure to be programming again in Pascal, and not C
or assembly.

You have a great product, and it is a joy to program in your
environment. The problem is "how do we tell the embedded systems
world?"
In some cases, your code size is equal to IAR's, especially if they
use printf_P which they substitute for printf in C. Yes, if IAR's code is optimized for size, the code size is generally less than AVR Pascal. However, if I were doing a mission-critical application, I would not use C and I certainly would not use IAR's optimization.

It is my understanding that the US Federal Drug Administration will not certify embedded systems used in medical system that use C or MS Windows. The mentality of many C programmers really scares me. As you know, they believe that they should be responsible for avoiding all hazards in C.
... it took me about 3 hours to begin doing meaningful coding with your environment vs. 3 weeks with IAR's C.
durch Tip eines Kollegen an Ihre tools geraten. Echt super! Konnte auf modifiziertem STK200 von ATMEL extrem schnell lauffähige Applikationen erstellen. Bin beim Erstellen einer (kleinen) bug-list. Kommt umgehend.

Als "eingefleischter" C-Fan: Superprodukt!
Ihr Pascal-System hat mittlerweile einen beeindruckenden Umfang angenommen.
Ein neuer Mitarbeiter, von der Hochschule auf "C" getrimmt, hat innerhalb weniger Tage das Lager gewechselt.
 
The development time are 1/3 vs other compiler/debuggers and so on. I have put my other compilers/debugger into a big box now. I'm a really happy customer.
 
Pascal tutorial in english
http://www.taoyue.com/tutorials/pascal/

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Horizon/5444/pstart.htm

 
Pascal Tutorial in Deutsch
http://www2.informatik.uni-halle.de/lehre/pascal/sprache/
http://www.pascalkurs.de.vu/
 
Public Domain
Download C to Pascal translator
Download Dual Async Terminal new 17.May.2002
Items of interest:
http://www.bernd-leitenberger.de/pascal-und-c.html
 
 
 
 

 

 

  

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