Record with methods?

[Wodzu]

Is it supported in FPC? I am afraid not, cause my program won't compile.

What is closest to the record with methods which we have in Delphi?

[idog]

I believe that would be the old Object data type:
http://community.freepascal.org:10000/docs-html/ref/refch5.html

[skalogryz]

Is it supported in FPC? I am afraid not, cause my program won't compile.

What is closest to the record with methods which we have in Delphi?

regular procedure with the first var parameter of the record.

[Zaher]

record with method = object

[Troodon]

there seems to be a lot of confusion among newer freepascal users regarding classes and objects. a class is a data type (=the abstract thing) and the object is a variable of that type (=the "real" thing, a.k.a. an instance of that class). a class is a like a record that includes fields (=variables) and methods (=procedures and functions). among those methods there are two special ones called constructor and destructor; they might be inherited from the parent of the class. to instatiate (=create) an object one must call its constructor; when done with it, its destructor must be called.

why would anyone want to use classes/objects instead of standard procedures/functions? mainly for convenience and... elegance: instead of issuing something like a_procedure(a_record_var) one can issue an_object.a_method. and then there's inheritance, polymorphism...

try this: http://www.delphibasics.co.uk/Article.asp?Name=OO

[idog]

there seems to be a lot of confusion among newer freepascal users regarding classes and objects. a class is a data type (=the abstract thing) and the object is a variable of that type

I (and I think Zaher too) didn't mean "an object" (as in an instance of a class) but "the Object type" (as in "type TMyObj = Object ... end; "). It's probably not a recommended programming tool anymore, but it's closer to Delphi's "Record with methods" than classes, no?

[Zaher]

"Record with methods" = Object (a created from class)
I think it is not a feature, it step to make managed objects, so jumping to managed objects directly it is the feature.

The problem it how to make that class have one Create method as they have on Destroy method.

[Wodzu]

idog it seems Zaher meant an instance of class not an Object data type

I was reading here somewhere post about the difference between the Object and instance of class but don't remebmer it now exactly.

[After few minutes]

Ok, I've read the link which you gave me. It is clear now, thanks

@Zaher I really hope that you had not on your mind a garbage collector, I really hope that   

[idog]

@Wodzu: Well I'm just a programmer, not a telepath 

I can understand why FPC developers wouldn't bother with Record methods (and, BTW, I won't be surprised if the Object data type disappeared from the Pascal language altogether). Still, they are a sweet language feature...

[marcov]

Note that a danger of using TP objects instead of records with methods is that TP objects are not safe with automated types (ansistrings, dynamic arrays). So I wouldn't recommend this.

I would simply define normal procedures + records.

[idog]

TP objects are not safe with automated types

Ugh!

[Troodon]

Warning: Rant!

Classes, TP objects, records with methods... why not complicate the hell out of our programming habits? I mean, instead of focusing on the logic of our programs we could spend twice as much time to gain, perhaps, a few microseconds in a tight loop, especially if that increases the chance that the program will not work as expected. I think the classes concept is clear enough to avoid any confusion and implementing more "exotic" stuff for the sake of compatibility with (little used features in?) Delphi only drains the development resources of this community. My 2 cents.

[Zaher]

Record not need "garbage collector" to free it, so if we have feature in FreePascal a
Record have methods and can inherit it from another record and we can override some virtual methods, and then we have Create and Destroy in standard can we override them for override the initialization of this record, (i am dreaming  ), and we can inherit that record from a Class, so we will have a managed objects in free pascal.

Did any one understand me

[Troodon]

Well, they don't need garbage collection because they don't sit on the heap, i.e., they are permanently allocated.

[marcov]

Record not need "garbage collector" to free it, so if we have feature in FreePascal a
Record have methods and can inherit it from another record and we can override some virtual methods, and then we have Create and Destroy in standard can we override them for override the initialization of this record, (i am dreaming  ), and we can inherit that record from a Class, so we will have a managed objects in free pascal.

Yes, but only within the scope of one procedure. Is that really worth the trouble? :-)