As someone that grew up on C, I always found Pascal positively brutalist with its BEGIN and END blocks, instead of using the more nimble braces.
These days I recognise the immense potential it had, and lament the fact that I never had the chance to learn it properly. My path was Borland Turbo C++, VB6, VC++6 then I moved to the Linux world.
The BEGINs were replace by THEN (for IFs) and DO (for WHILEs and FORs). They still need something to denote the ENDs. Instead of saying "THEN BEGIN" or "DO BEGIN", you can drop the BEGIN and just assume it's there.
Comments
As someone that grew up on C, I always found Pascal positively brutalist with its BEGIN and END blocks, instead of using the more nimble braces.
These days I recognise the immense potential it had, and lament the fact that I never had the chance to learn it properly. My path was Borland Turbo C++, VB6, VC++6 then I moved to the Linux world.
Modula-2, Ada and Oberon removed most of the BEGINs except the one between variable declaration and the start of the code.
But they kept the ENDs?
The BEGINs were replace by THEN (for IFs) and DO (for WHILEs and FORs). They still need something to denote the ENDs. Instead of saying "THEN BEGIN" or "DO BEGIN", you can drop the BEGIN and just assume it's there.
Okay, a bit like Ruby, THEN.
IF I had to BEGIN a comment, I would say that FOR a WHILE I thought it was the END.
# ;)