[Oberon] Multiple RETURN in a procedure

Andreas Pirklbauer andreas_pirklbauer at yahoo.com
Mon Oct 24 09:52:42 CEST 2022


  > I was actually looking at source code downloaded from ETH. This
  > source code is dated 1994 and is accompanied by the note:
  >
  > "This directory contains the sources of the Oberon System
  > version 4 for Ceres-2 Workstations. They replace the earlier
  > version 1 sources described in the book "Project Oberon”

Correct, so N. Wirth started from the original version 1 sources
when creating Project Oberon 2013.

As a side comment, with respect to the LOOP statement - same
problem with its multiple EXITs - when porting the compiler itself, he
noted in http://people.inf.ethz.ch/wirth/Oberon/PortingOberon.pdf

"There were only 4 loop statements in the compiler – a sign of good
programming :-) ... In my experience, a careful search for a new
formulation is worth while. In all cases, the new solution turned
 out to be more satisfactory.”

So he clearly wanted to promote the new programming style
(and actually enforced it by not allowing the old constructs).

Personally, I would have considered adding a “retro" option to
the compiler, such that it also accepts old language constructs.
But N. Wirth never did that in any of his compilers (if I am not
mistaken) since the 1960s. He may have felt that then people
will just leave the old code and one ends up with a mix of old
and new language constructs.

But the market / software industry would not accept that.








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