Modula-3 language definition

Modula-3 is a systems programming language developed by Digital Equipment Corporation and Olivetti between 1986 and 1990. It emphasizes safety and simplicity, and supports interfaces, objects, generics, lightweight threads of control, the isolation of unsafe code, garbage collection, exceptions, and subtyping, Modula-3 is based on--but is not compatible with--the Modula-2 language designed by Niklaus Wirth, and the Modula-2+ language developed at Digital. Two books on the language have been published: Systems Programming with Modula-3 by Greg Nelson (Prentice-Hall, 1991), and Modula-3 by Sam Harbison (Prentice-Hall, 1992). On-line discussions of the language may be found in the Usenet news group comp. l a n g . m o d u l a 3 . A Modula-3 compiler and a collection of tools and libraries is distributed free by the DEC Systems Research Center in Palo Alto. For more information, send E-mail to m3-request@src.dec, com.