[Oberon] Why are `*` and `^` interpreted by individual Oberon commands?

[Hans Klaver]

>  նորայր <norayr at arnet.am> wrote:
> 
> I did, and it's near me.
> Would you like to point out which particular page to re-read?



In Martin Reiser's The Oberon System (1991):
https://oberoncore.ru/_media/library/mros1991.pdf
or
https://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/eth/ceres/Reiser_The_Oberon_System_1991.pdf
Page 18-19 
EBNF-notation of the syntax of commands

Page 34 and following
2.5 Commands

Note that in this early book @ is not yet mentioned as a special character in the parameter list of a command.

But in the following documents the @ is mentioned:
Project Oberon (original 1992 book) page 40

Project Oberon (2005 edition) page 33
https://people.inf.ethz.ch/wirth/ProjectOberon1992.pdf

Project Oberon (2013): page 33
https://people.inf.ethz.ch/wirth/ProjectOberon/PO.System.pdf

Note that on page 3 of the text Using Oberon (2015, see below) the * as special character in parameter lists (referring to the marked viewer) has disappeared. Which is a pity because it is very handy when compiling modules because you don't have to select the (beginning of) the text you want to (re)compile. Even when the star marker is not visible any more the most recently marked viewer is remembered by the System.
https://people.inf.ethz.ch/wirth/ProjectOberon/UsingOberon.pdf  (one of the last texts Wirth wrote on the Oberon System).

Regards,


Hans Klaver


> Op 11 aug. 2026, om 01:22 heeft նորայր <norayr at arnet.am> het volgende geschreven:
> 
> I did, and it's near me.
> Would you like to point out which particular page to re-read?
> 
> On Tue, 11 Aug 2026 08:22:11 +0930
> Chris Burrows <cfbsoftware at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> On Mon, Aug 10, 2026 at 4:15 PM նորայր <norayr at arnet.am> wrote:
>> 
>>> 
>>> I have been thinking about the design of command arguments in the Oberon
>>> System, and I would be interested to hear the reasoning behind one
>>> particular choice.
>>> ...
>> 
>> 
>> I recommend that you read the book The Oberon System
>> <https://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/eth/ceres/Reiser_The_Oberon_System_1991.pdf>
>> -  User
>> Guide and Programmer's Manual by Martin Reiser, ACM Press 1991, ISBN
>> 0-201-54422-9. Chapters 1 and 2 in particular discuss the features of the
>> user interface design.
> 
> 
> -- 
> There are two ways of constructing a software design.  One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. And the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies.
> 
> -- C.A.R. Hoare
> 
> --
> Oberon at lists.inf.ethz.ch mailing list for ETH Oberon and related systems
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