[Oberon] CASE in Project Oberon, Revised Oberon

[Marc Simpson]

Hi all,

Is there a clear statement of amendments to CASE in Project Oberon? As
far as I can tell:

- Pointers and records can be used in expression position, providing
  type-switch behaviour (example in TextFrames.Handle); type identifiers
  are therefore accepted in label position.

- INTEGER and CHAR cases aren't implemented yet ("numeric case not
  implemented") but will be in a future release.

Related question: can anyone explain the motivation for CASE
simplifications in Revised Oberon ('07)?  In "Differences between
Revised Oberon and Oberon," Prof. Wirth writes:

  The case statement performs the same function as the if statement.
  However, it is intended to use a different technique of
  implementation, namely a single, indexed branch instead of a cascade
  of conditional branches. This is sensible only if the cases are
  distinguished by a (mostly) contiguous range of label values.

  1. Labels are integers or character constants.
  2. Labels form a range of values, starting with 0, like array indices.

My concern is that -- given the change to label ranges outlined above
and the removal of the default (ELSE) clause -- implementational
simplicity and efficiency have trumped expressiveness, limiting the
utility of CASE.

Thanks,
Marc