Just to add some fuel to the Pascal and OOP debate. I'm working a a small project using an ARM7 based micro so the thought came about - "how about using freepascal"? I'm looking a farming some of the code off to another programmer who usually uses Delphi so we pondered that it might be an interesting test to see how it goes. As for the issue of code bloat,performance etc, no better test than to do something and analyse the outcome. The use of OOP/c++ in embedded systems is starting to come under the spotlight. There is now embedded c++ that addresses the main issues with c++ in an embedded environment. I read an article recently outlining the motivation and differences between the embedded and standard c++. The major gist was that using certain features of c++ made the code larger.

To me, the OOP thing merits some investigation. The cpus we work with have more ram,flash and performance and many of the apps require graphic displays and slick user interfaces. I don't think for one moment that OOP is a magic bullet that will solve all my problems, but more another tool in the toolbox. Used wisely, the right tool will allow me to create code faster and more reliably.