[Oberon] Use of resources.

[Frans-Pieter Vonck]

Hello Paul, Peter and all other oberonneurs,

one of my former highschool students is writing a Python programmes that 
have very long listings. Despite the structured nature of Python his 
programmes become to complex to explain to me.
Now I think I remember a quote from Niklaus Wirth where he states that 
every module that is longer than one page should be rewritten in 
separate modules.
Did anyone remember this quote? And, do you think this adagium is only 
valid for the Main Module or is it also applicable for, say math library 
modules?

Greets,
Frans-Pieter

Paul Reed schreef op 2015-12-15 12:40:
>> Did Wirth write something about refraining from use
>> of a resource merely because it is available?  I'm
>> almost certain I read it in something he wrote or in
>> something biographical.  Haven't found it with Google.
> 
> Project Oberon, section 2.3:
> (https://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/wirth/ProjectOberon/PO.System.pdf, 
> p.19)
> 
> "The high priority given in the system's conception to modularity, to
> avoiding unnecessary frills, and to concentrate on the indispensable in
> the core, has resulted in a system of remarkable compactness. Although
> this property may be regarded as of little importance in this era of
> falling costs of large memories, we consider it to be highly essential. 
> We
> merely should like to draw the reader's attention to the correlation
> between a systems' size and its reliability. Also, we do not consider 
> it
> as good engineering practice to consume a resource lavishly just 
> because
> it happens to be cheap."
> 
> A passage which stayed with me, too - and why I always recommend anyone
> interested in Project Oberon to spend as much time as possible with the
> original texts, which (unusually for most computing texts) reward a 
> good
> read.
> 
> Cheers,
> Paul
> 
> 
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