[Oberon] [EXT] Re: Potential New Approach to Implement Instance-Centered OOP in Oberon-07

[Chris Burrows]

Nothing needs to be added to the Oberon-07* language*. The 2016 Language
Report already allows TYPE PObject = POINTER TO RECORD x, y, ...END;

However, Wirth's *implementation* for the Project Oberon compiler has a
restriction that requires you to split this into two separate declarations:

TYPE PObject = POINTER TO PObjectDesc;
PObjectDesc = RECORD x, y, ...END;

Once again ChatGPT was very useful in discussing why Wirth might have
decided that this restriction was an expedient one. Anybody who is
considering removing the restriction should be aware of the potential
issues that may arise and the test cases that would be required:

https://chatgpt.com/share/6ac98682-24b8-83ec-a077-494b64612c0e


On Fri, Oct 9, 2026 at 2:02 PM Skulski, Wojciech <skulski at pas.rochester.edu>
wrote:

> Chris and Andreas,
> On this occasion, would it be possible to add the following to the
> language, like it was done in Component Pascal:
>
> TYPE PObject = POINTER TO RECORD x, y, ...END;
>
> Wojtek
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Oberon <oberon-bounces at lists.inf.ethz.ch> on behalf of Chris
> Burrows <cfbsoftware at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Sunday, October 4, 2026 9:49 PM
> *To:* ETH Oberon and related systems <oberon at lists.inf.ethz.ch>
> *Subject:* [EXT] Re: [Oberon] Potential New Approach to Implement
> Instance-Centered OOP in Oberon-07
>
> I put your proposal to ChatGPT for analysis and the reply was generally
> favourable:
>
> https://chatgpt.com/s/t_6ac300bdf27c8191b3c26edf69adef88
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://chatgpt.com/s/t_6ac300bdf27c8191b3c26edf69adef88__;!!CGUSO5OYRnA7CQ!eFtCBJc7aKOUTVf27t9DGEuh18YFaXY--L9dil-NdYqrOmUwHyzV7e02JHqE35r9JhuutGxZjXIjPwNxzgZmIenFK3o$>
>
>
> --
> Oberon at lists.inf.ethz.ch mailing list for ETH Oberon and related systems
> https://lists.inf.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/oberon
>
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