Introduction to Oberon-2

Abstract

This chapter provides a gentle introduction to the programming language Oberon-2. The approach is a very practical one and is based on the expressive quality of examples. After introducing the form (syntax) of the language and its basic constructs the theme moves to procedures, abstract data types and modules as the basic elements and the possibility of type extension and type-bound procedures. This brings us naturally to the world of object-oriented programming and, perhaps more important, an object-oriented way of thinking, so the introduction is evolutionary and aims to avoid any radical discussion of the pros and cons of introducing object-oriented programming (OOP) in the early stages of learning to program. The attractive thing about Oberon-2 is that the language is built on well-proven foundations and at the same time supports object-oriented programming with the help of simple but powerful extensions.