Modula-2
Modula-2 is a programming
language invented by Niklaus Wirth, who
was also
the inventor of Pascal. If you liked Pascal, you'll like Modula-2 even
better.
If you're not familiar with
the language, fetch the document Modula-2
for Pascal programmers.
The information on this page
has a bias towards Modula-2 for the
PC, because
that happens to be the machine I use most often. For more general
information,
check the "other information sources" mentioned below.
Contents
See also the following separate documents:
- The PMOS
library: a large
collection
of modules for multitasking applications. Includes modules for screen
windows, graphics, mouse control, menus, and quite a few other things.
Free for non-profit use. I can confidently recommend this because I
wrote it myself.
- PMOS/2
is a port of PMOS to
work
with OS/2.
- Numerical analysis software
(freeware).
- XtdLib
by Marco van de Voort (freeware). A collection of modules (for TopSpeed
3, but could be ported if anyone wants to make the effort) supporting
things like multitasking, XMS, mouse, various screen operations.
- M2AFX:
an
application framework for Windows programming.
- There are collections of
useful software at
ftp.psg.com
and cs.ru.ac.za.
- Multigraph library
(shareware), available for
Stony Brook,
TopSpeed
1.17, and
TopSpeed
version
3 compilers. I've never used
this, but I've looked through some
of the documentation files and it seems to contain extensive graphics
support.
- Libraries and example code
by John
Andrea.
Remark: the above is my
personal list of things I've discovered and
which
look useful. It makes no claim to be comprehensive. There are still a
few broken links for which I haven't yet had the time to search for
replacements.
I'm not aware of many net links for commercial suppliers, but you might
want to check out the following links.
- PMI:
various
Modula-2
tools.
- Excelsior
(formerly known as XDS):
compilers and related
products.
- ModulaWare:
compilers
and related products.
See also the compilers section below; compiler vendors generally also
sell
related products such as libraries.
Compilers
for OS/2 are listed on a
separate
page.
Here are the shareware or free
Modula-2 compilers that I know about
for
DOS (including Windows) or Linux. (Please contact me if you know about
others.)
- FST
Modula-2.
I've checked this one out, and it's reasonably good. Registration
US$50.
- Gardens
Point Modula-2. I've checked
this only superficially, so can't
comment on quality. There's also a copy at
ftp.psg.com. I think
the DOS and OS/2 versions are free.
- Mocka (Modula Compiler
Karlsruhe). The PC version is free, but
requires Linux or 386BSD as a prerequisite. (I've never used this,
but the people who do use it seem to like it.) Copies are available
at
For more information, try e-mail to modula@ipd.info.uni-karlsruhe.de.
General comment: these compilers are not up to the "turbo" quality that
PC users have come to expect. If you want a good user interface and/or
advanced
features then you'll have to pay real money.
A related product, also free
for research/educational purposes:
- Modula-2*, an extension of
Modula-2 for parallel programming.
Supported on several platforms, but it does have Unix as a
prerequisite. Check this
ftp site
for further details.
The Net
M2 project was an initiative by
a
group of volunteers to create a freeware Modula-2 compiler. The project
now appears
to be in a state of suspended animation.
Commercially available
compilers include:
- FTL: Now defunct, as far as
I know, but there are probably still
copies floating around. I used to use it, and was very happy with the
quality, but decided to drop it because of software portability
problems.
- TopSpeed. For DOS
programming this is my personal favourite, but
the new owners seem to have lost interest in selling it. As far as I
know, the only way to get this compiler is to find a reseller who has
old stock.
- Logitech: I can't comment
on this, it's years since I last used
it.
- OM2 for DOS/Windows from
ModulaWare: I know nothing about this
one, other than that it's for both Modula-2 & Oberon-2.
- Stony Brook: no comment,
I've never tried it.
- XDS: Modula-2 &
Oberon-2 compilers for a variety of
platforms. I use the OS/2 version and rate it very highly, but I've
never
checked out the versions for DOS or Windows.
(This list is probably incomplete - I'd welcome feedback from other
people.) If you're having trouble finding any of these, check this list
of suppliers.
Check the list of suppliers,
or look here
for more general information.
This information was compiled
by
Peter
Moylan.
Last modified 12 September 2005.