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Improving the structure of large Pascal programs
Author(s) -
Young S. J.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
software: practice and experience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1097-024X
pISSN - 0038-0644
DOI - 10.1002/spe.4380110904
Subject(s) - pascal (unit) , programming language , computer science , modular programming , preprocessor , documentation , data structure
This paper describes an extension to Pascal in the form of an encapsulation mechanism aimed at improving the structure of large Pascal programs. It is based upon the module structure of Modula but extended to include a more detailed specification of module interfaces and to allow the definition of a module body to be deferred. Called Pascal/M, the extended language is implemented via a preprocessor. It has been successfully used in large programming projects and been found to both aid in the application of top‐down design methods and to greatly improve the documentation of the final product by breaking up the program text into a hierarchy of short readable modules. The use of Pascal/M is illustrated by a program example and aspects of its design and implementation are discussed.