- Oberon - mailman3.inf.ethz.ch

"Make Project Oberon Pretty Again"
by Liam Proven 10 Jan '24

10 Jan '24

« Project Oberon TeX Typesetting Project Project Oberon is an amazing piece of computer science and amazing tool for teaching. The book and the code demonstrate, without any tiny amount of doubt, that it is possible to build a usable computing system small enough to fit in the head of a normal programmer. That, in my not-so-humble opinion, is a truly great achievement and I am in awe of Niklaus Wirth and Jürg Gutknecht for it. The last edition -- from 2013 -- could use some tender loving care. It should look beautiful. This project is an attempt to: Liberate the text from the un-editable PDF sources. Typeset the book using (plain) TeX and Knuth's own taocpmac.tex macros. Add the full (typeset) source code to the book for those of us who like reading code in bed. Convert it into a Literate Programming project where code is more liberally scattered amongst the prose and "tangled" into the final product. Being a document with TeX sources, instead of a dead PDF, future Project Oberon engineers will be able to modify the text to keep it up-to-date with the running source code. I have a dream that we -- as the Oberon community -- can edit and publish this book. I would love for this to be printed as a nice hardcover that can sit right next to my Art of Computer Programming books. PDF and code taken from http://www.projectoberon.com » https://github.com/guidoism/tex-oberon -- Liam Proven ~ Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lproven(a)cix.co.uk ~ gMail/gTalk/FB: lproven(a)gmail.com Twitter/LinkedIn: lproven ~ Skype: liamproven IoM: (+44) 7624 277612: UK: (+44) 7939-087884 Czech [+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal]: (+420) 702-829-053

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RIP Niklaus Wirth
by Jack Johnson 09 Jan '24

09 Jan '24

Oh man: "We lost a titan of programming languages, programming methodology, software engineering and hardware design. Niklaus Wirth passed away on the first of January. We mourn a pioneer, colleague, mentor and friend." - Bertrand Meyer

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Niklaus Wirth 15.2.1934 - 1.1.2024
by Andreas Pirklbauer 07 Jan '24

07 Jan '24

Dear all, I am deeply saddened to have received the news of Niklaus Wirth’s passing and extend my heartfelt condolences to his family and all those who were dear to him. I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the profound and positive impact that Niklaus had on my life and career, and to express my gratitude for all that he meant to me. I first encountered Niklaus in the 1980s at ETH Zurich, where I was fortunate enough to be part of the great excitement when Oberon was first created. I recall being in an office located in the Rechenzentrum (data center) building in Zurich, where the computer science department of ETH was located. At the time, Niklaus had just released Oberon, and we, as the first users, were all congratulating him on this important achievement. One particular interaction with Niklaus stands out in my memory. As I was walking by his office, he called me in and, after complimenting my work (on an admittedly modest extension to a Modula-2 compiler for the 68k processor), delivered a biting critique on an opportunity that he believed I should have seized. Despite his direct approach, I always valued his insightful feedback, which was a refreshing contrast to the overly-coddling standards of today. Great teachers and mentors are forthright, astute, and genuine, and Niklaus was undoubtedly one of the best. He had a knack for identifying “the essential” and if he took notice of you, it was sure to redound to your benefit. He was also beyond the slightest doubt one of the most brilliant and phenomenally competent engineering minds that I have ever encountered. But more importantly, it was his way of thinking that had the most profound influence. The “school of Niklaus Wirth”, the art of simplicity and elegance is simply unmatched. I doubt that I will ever encounter anyone quite like him again in my lifetime again.. Over the years, I got to know him personally as well and we have become friends. I discovered a highly educated man in the great humanist tradition. I will miss Niklaus deeply, and I will keep his memory alive in my thoughts. I am grateful for the time we shared, for his great hospitality in Zurich throughout the years, and I am honoured to have been touched by his influence. Sincerely, Andreas

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Niklaus Wirth
by John Stout 04 Jan '24

04 Jan '24

I was so sad to hear of Professor Wirth's death. Buying a copy of his Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs when I started programming in the 70s started me on my personal life in Computing. Certainly I wouldn't have my first teaching job (Computing A-level using Pascal with 16-18 year olds) without his influence. I had 5 copies of the book so I could lend copies to interested students without the danger of losing my original. Oberon will remain a delightful monument to Professor Wirth and his work. John Stout

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An official tribute to Prof. Wirth from ETH.
by peter＠easthope.ca 04 Jan '24

04 Jan '24

English https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38867820 Try to balance the joy of his achievements against the sadness of his departing. Regards, ... P.L. -- VoIP: +1 604 670 0140 work: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/User:PeterEasthope

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Re: [Oberon] Rochus Keller releases FOSS browser of A2 source code
by Liam Proven 03 Jan '24

03 Jan '24

On 01/01/2024 6:00 pm, peter(a)easthope.ca wrote: > At the bottom of page > https://github.com/OberonSystem3/AOS_Bluebottle_Sources > Rochus states, "... ETH Active Object/Bluebottle system discussed here > is not the same as the A2 operating system. ..." Aha! Useful clarification -- thank you. This is the original AOS with Bluebottle, and A2 is a later version. -- Liam Proven - Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lproven(a)cix.co.uk - Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lproven(a)gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven - Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven IoM: +44 7624 227612 ~ UK: +44 7939-087884 ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053

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Re: [Oberon] Rochus Keller releases FOSS browser of A2 source code
by peter＠easthope.ca 01 Jan '24

01 Jan '24

Hello Liam and all, From: Liam Proven <lproven(a)gmail.com> Date: Mon, 1 Jan 2024 13:28:00 +0000 > https://github.com/rochus-keller/ActiveOberon/ At the bottom of page https://github.com/OberonSystem3/AOS_Bluebottle_Sources Rochus states, "... ETH Active Object/Bluebottle system discussed here is not the same as the A2 operating system. ..." Regards, ... P.L. -- VoIP: +1 604 670 0140 work: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/User:PeterEasthope

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Removing RETURN from Mail.MatchQuery.
by peter＠easthope.ca 01 Jan '24

01 Jan '24

Hi, In A2, Oberon.Mail.Mod has procedure MatchQuery. https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Oberon/A2/Oberon.Mail.Mod#MatchQuery The second half of the procedure is a LOOP occupying most of the display of my browser. Within the LOOP is a RETURN. For Oberon-07 conformance the RETURN must be removed. My reasoning followed these steps. (1) Invert the IF statement. Ie. change IF Q.root.eval to IF ~Q.root.eval. That leaves RETURN just before the end of the procedure. (2) Change LOOP to WHILE ~Q.root.eval and move the RETURN outside the END of the loop. This is my result from LOOP to the end of the procedure. (* LOOP *) WHILE ~Q.root.eval DO REPEAT i := 0; cond := Q.conds; (* evaluate logical ops *) WHILE cond # NIL DO IF cond IS Node THEN WITH cond: Node DO IF ~cond.eval THEN IF cond.left.eval & cond.right.eval THEN IF cond.op = or THEN (* OR *) cond.value := cond.left.value OR cond.right.value ELSIF cond.op = and THEN (* AND *) cond.value := cond.left.value & cond.right.value ELSE HALT(99) END; cond.eval := TRUE; INC(i) ELSIF (cond.op = or) & ((cond.left.eval & cond.left.value) OR (cond.right.eval & cond.right.value)) THEN cond.value := TRUE; cond.eval := TRUE; cond.left.eval := TRUE; cond.right.eval := TRUE; INC(i) ELSIF (cond.op = and) & ((cond.left.eval & ~cond.left.value) OR (cond.right.eval & ~cond.right.value)) THEN cond.value := FALSE; cond.eval := TRUE; cond.left.eval := TRUE; cond.right.eval := TRUE; INC(i) END END END END; cond := cond.next END UNTIL Q.root.eval OR (i <= 0); IF ~Q.root.eval THEN IF txt THEN cond := Q.conds; WHILE cond # NIL DO IF (cond.field = text) & ~cond.eval THEN cond.value := TextSearch(cond, no); cond.eval := TRUE END; cond := cond.next END ELSE HALT(99) END ELSE (* Q.root.eval *) END END; (* LOOP, WHILE *) RETURN Q.root.value END MatchQuery; -- VoIP: +1 604 670 0140 work: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/User:PeterEasthope

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Rochus Keller releases FOSS browser of A2 source code
by Liam Proven 01 Jan '24

01 Jan '24

https://github.com/rochus-keller/ActiveOberon/ -- Liam Proven ~ Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lproven(a)cix.co.uk ~ gMail/gTalk/FB: lproven(a)gmail.com Twitter/LinkedIn: lproven ~ Skype: liamproven IoM: (+44) 7624 277612: UK: (+44) 7939-087884 Czech [+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal]: (+420) 702-829-053

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Re: [Oberon] Removing WITH
by pfoten.falken0p＠icloud.com 31 Dec '23

31 Dec '23

Hello Peter Easthope, actually this makes a lot of sense. (How would the compiler know how to generate the code, if the dynamic type isn’t properly established.) I guess I’d be rather use a temporary variable than repeating the guard, but this is a matter of personal preference. Thank you for your patience. Sven

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