The World of Computer Software/World_Of_Computer_Software-02-385-Vol-1of3.iso/m/mod2tutr.zip/INTRO.TXT

Text File | 1989-01-18 | 12KB | 293 lines

                                                  Introduction

                                             INTRO TO MODULA-2



MODULA-2 IS A COMPLETE LANGUAGE
______________________________________________________________

Welcome to the programming language Modula-2, a very complete,
high level language with many advanced features.  Modula-2 was
designed by Niklaus Wirth, the designer of Pascal.  Based on
experience with Pascal, Modula-2 was designed to make up for
many of the deficiencies noted by programmers worldwide, and
the changes make it a very powerful language with few
limitations.  In spite of its power, Modula-2 retains the
simplicity of Pascal and can be used for small applications
as easily as Pascal could be used.



MODULA-2 TUTORIAL - PART I
______________________________________________________________

Even though there are many similarities between the two
languages, the differences are significant.  This tutorial was
written considering both the similarities and the differences
between the languages.  The first part of this tutorial is
composed of those features that are common to Pascal and
Modula-2 and are also of a fundamental nature.  You will need
to study all of Part I in order to write meaningful Modula-2
programs.  If you are already a fairly experienced Pascal
programmer, you will absorb this material very rapidly.  Be
sure to go through it all at least once, because there are
many small differences between the languages that you must
consider.



MODULA-2 TUTORIAL - PART II
______________________________________________________________

The topics taught in Part II of this tutorial are those
advanced features that are also available in Pascal.
Pointers, dynamic allocation, records, and linked lists are
studied here along with other topics.  These are very powerful
tools that can be used to great advantage, but are quite often
overlooked by many Pascal programmers that I have talked to.
These are the tools that give Pascal and Modula-2 an advantage
in flexibility over such languages as BASIC and FORTRAN.  They
do require a bit of deep concentration to fully understand,
but you will be greatly rewarded if you take the time to
understand and use them.



                                                           I-1

                                      Introduction to Modula-2

MODULA-2 TUTORIAL - PART III
______________________________________________________________

Part III of this tutorial covers those aspects of Modula-2
that are not included in Pascal in any way.  Some of the
topics are, independent compilation, the entire topic of
modules, and concurrent processing.  These are advanced topics
and some of these topics may be the reasons that you selected
Modula-2 as a programming language.  The material covered in
Part I in conjunction with that covered in Part III can lead
to some very powerful programming techniques.

To efficiently use this tutorial, you must carefully study all
of the material in Part I, then you can do a lot of jumping
around in Parts II and III and still cover the material in a
meaningful manner.  You may also choose to only study some
chapters of the last two parts in order to learn the needed
material for the programming problem at hand.  It must be
emphasized that it is important that you cover the material
in Part I very carefully, and in order, since so much depends
on what was taught before.  When your study reaches the last
two parts, comments at the beginning of each chapter will tell
you which previous chapters must be understood in order to
effectively use the material in the new chapter.


FOR THE BEGINNING PROGRAMMER
______________________________________________________________

If you are a novice to computer programming, this course is
for you because it is assumed that you know little or nothing
about programming.  Many sections, especially in the early
chapters, will cover very basic topics for your benefit.  Your
biggest problem will be in setting up your compiler for use.
This can be a very difficult task because Modula-2 is a
complex language, and compiler writers must allow considerable
flexibility in the use of the compiler.

There are, at this time, a very limited number of Modula-2
compilers available, but it would not be possible to include
notes on every compiler about how to install it for your
computer.  In addition, all compilers do not implement all
functions defined in Niklaus Wirth's definition of the
language.  You may have a problem getting your compiler
installed and running on your computer.  The best help you
can find is an experienced person in your company to help you
get your compiler running properly on your computer.

Modula-2, as defined by Niklaus Wirth, contains no provisions
for input or output because they are so hardware dependent.
It is up to each compiler writer to provide you with
supplemental procedures for handling I/O (input/output) and
a few other machine dependent features.  Niklaus Wirth did
recommend a library of I/O routines that should be available

                                                           I-2

                                      Introduction to Modula-2

and most compilers contain at least those facilities, and
usually provide many more.


SIMPLE EXAMPLES WILL BE USED
______________________________________________________________

All of the example programs are purposely kept simple and
small to illustrate the point intended.  It is of little value
to you to present you with a large complex program to
illustrate what can be illustrated in a small program better.
In addition, every program is complete, and can be compiled
and run.  Program fragments frequently pose as many questions
as they answer.

The result of execution is given in comments at the end of
each example program.  The result is given for one compiler,
but in nearly every case, the answer should be the same no
matter what compiler is used.  A few of the programs may
output slightly different data because of different defaults.
For example, there is no standard number of digits which will
be output following a decimal point for a floating point
number.  The result of execution is given for your benefit so
that you do not have to compile and run every program in those
parts of the tutorial that you can breeze through quickly due
to prior programming experience in a similar language.

Because it would be a disservice to you to teach you a lot of
simple techniques and never show you how they go together in
a significant program, chapters 9 and 16 contain several
larger example programs, all of which are complete programs.
A relatively small amount of description is given about these
programs because you will have already covered the details and
should only need a quick overview of how to put the various
constructs together.  You will find some of these programs
useful and you will have the ability to modify and enhance
them for your use since you have the source code available on
the distribution disk.


SOME VARIABLE NAMES SEEM SILLY, WHY IS THAT?
______________________________________________________________

I have seen example programs with the same name everywhere,
and had a hard time deciding what names were required and what
could be changed to something more meaningful.  For example
a SORT program is in a file named SORT, the program name is
SORT, the input data file is named SORT, and variables were
named SORT1, SORT2, etc.  This was no help to myself, a novice
sorter, and would be no help to you.  For that reason, the
first program in chapter 2 is in a file named PUPPYDOG.MOD and
the module name is PuppyDog.  It should be obvious to even the
newest programmer that the name of a module can be nearly
anything if it is allowed to be PuppyDog.  You will learn

                                                           I-3

                                      Introduction to Modula-2

later that well selected names can be a great aid in
understanding a program.  This will be evident in some of the
early programs when variable names are chosen to indicate what
type of variable they are.

Some compilers require that the module name be the same as the
file name, and all require them to agree when you get to
global modules because of the way type checking is
accomplished.  It would be best for you to get into the habit
of naming them both the same now.  For that reason, all of the
example programs use the same name for the file name and for
the module name.  Your compiler may allow you to use different
names.  It will be left up to you to study your manual and see
what the requirements are for your particular compiler.



WHAT IS A COMPILER?
______________________________________________________________

There are two primary methods used in running any computer
program that is written in a readable form of English.  The
first method is through use of an interpreter.  An interpreter
is a program that looks at each line of the english program,
decides what the english on that line means, and does what it
says to do.  If one of the lines is executed repeatedly, it
must be scanned and analyzed each time, greatly slowing down
the solution of the problem at hand.

A compiler, on the other hand, is a program that looks at each
statement one time and converts it into a code that the
computer understands directly.  When the compiled program is
actually run, the computer does not have to figure out what
each statement means, it is already in a form the computer can
run directly, which results in a much faster execution of the
program.  Due to the nature of Modula-2, there will be few,
if any, interpreters for Modula-2.



WHAT ABOUT THE PROGRAMMING EXERCISES?
______________________________________________________________

The programming exercises at the end of each chapter are a
very important part of the tutorial.  If you do them, you will
embed the principles taught in each chapter more firmly in
your mind than if you ignore them.  If you choose to ignore
them, you will be somewhat adept at reading Modula-2 programs
but very ineffectual at writing them.  By doing the exercises,
you will also gain considerable experience in using your
editor and compiler.



                                                           I-4

                                      Introduction to Modula-2

THE ANSWERS DIRECTORY
______________________________________________________________

The ANSWERS directory on the distribution disk contains an
answer to each of the programming exercises suggested at the
end of each chapter.  Note carefully that the given answer is
only one possible solution to the problem and your answer
could differ markedly and still be a correct answer.  The
filename for each answer is given in the form of CHnnEm.MOD,
where nn refers to the chapter number and m refers to the
exercise number for that chapter.  If multiple answers are
requested, they will be named with an additional a, or b
following the primary name.  Thus the filename CH04E3A.MOD
contains the answer to the first part of programming exercise
3 in chapter 4.

It will be assumed that you know how to use your compiler and
that you have some kind of an editor for use with the example
files.  With the above in mind, you are now ready to begin
your tour of Modula-2.  A sample program is included in this
chapter for you to try with your compiler.  It is left as an
exercise for you to compile and run FIRSTEX.MOD.  When you can
successfully compile and run this program, you are ready to
begin the tutorial on Modula-2 programming.  At this point,
don't worry about what the statements mean in FIRSTEX.MOD, you
will have a complete understanding of this program by the time
you complete chapter 4 of this tutorial.


























                                                           I-5