[Oberon] COPY() removing

[Chris Burrows]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Oberon [mailto:oberon-bounces at lists.inf.ethz.ch] On Behalf Of
> Stéphane Aulery
> Sent: Thursday, 13 October 2016 9:51 PM
> To: ETH Oberon and related systems
> Subject: [Oberon] Fwd: A little weakness of operators syntax and
> COPY() removing
> 
> 
> I find also a possible minor error in
> 
> https://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/wirth/Oberon/Oberon07.Report.pdf
> 
> page 15.
> 
> But COPY have been removed according to
> 
> https://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/wirth/Oberon/OberonAtAGlance.pdf
> 
> for the whole language or only outside SYSTEM module?
> 

This is not an error in the report. "Oberon at a glance" could be expanded perhaps. COPY and SYSTEM.COPY are two different functions:

1. The Standard Procedure COPY that was removed used to be defined as:

  Name: COPY(x, v) 

  Argument types: x: character array, string
                  v: character array. 

  Function: string v := x

It became redundant because character arrays and strings can now be assigned to character arrays just be using the assignment operator ':='.

2. The new SYSTEM procedure SYSTEM.COPY has a different purpose. 

  Name: SYSTEM.COPY(src, dst, n) 

  Argument types: all INTEGER 

  Function: copy n consecutive words from src to dst

Regards,
Chris Burrows
CFB Software
http://www.astrobe.com