Modula-2 is a structured, procedural programming language developed between 1977 and 1985/8 by Niklaus Wirth at ETH Zurich.
[4] The computer magazine Byte devoted the August 1984 issue to the language and its surrounding environment.
[5] Wirth created the Oberon series of languages as the successor to Modula-2, while others (particularly at Digital Equipment Corporation and Acorn Computers, later Olivetti) developed Modula-2 into Modula-2+ and later Modula-3.
The syntax is based on Wirth's earlier language, Pascal, with some elements and syntactic ambiguities removed.
The export and import rules not only safeguard objects against unwanted access, but also allow a cross-reference of the definition of every identifier in a program to be created.
The language provides for single-processor concurrency (monitors, coroutines and explicit transfer of control) and for hardware access (absolute addresses, bit manipulation, and interrupts).
Mod51 by Mandeno Granville Electronics is based on ISO Modula-2 with language extensions for embedded development following IEC 1131, an industry standard for programmable logic controllers (PLC) closely related to Modula-2.
[19] The first experimental use of Modula-GM in an embedded controller was in the 1985 Antilock Braking System Controller which was based on the Motorola 68xxx microprocessor, and in 1993 Gen-4 ECU used by the Champ Car World Series Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) and Indy Racing League (IRL) teams.
After Delco Electronics was spun off from GM (with other component divisions) to form Delphi Automotive Systems in 1995, global sourcing required that a non-proprietary high-level software language be used.
ECU embedded software now developed at Delphi is compiled with commercial compilers for the language C. The satellites of the Russian radionavigation-satellite service framework GLONASS, similar to the United States Global Positioning System (GPS), are programmed in Modula-2.
A companion release for Hitachi HD64180 was sold by Micromint as a development tool for their SB-180 single-board computer.
[47] This code was mostly replaced with C++ when OS/400 was ported to the IBM RS64 processor family, although some remains in modern releases of the operating system.
The OS named Medos-2, for the Lilith workstation, was developed at ETH Zurich, by Svend Erik Knudsen with advice from Wirth.
[50][51][52] The OS named Excelsior, for the Kronos workstation, was developed by the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, Siberian branch, Novosibirsk Computing Center, Modular Asynchronous Developable Systems (MARS) project, Kronos Research Group (KRG).