Pascal Programming Language

Introduction to Pascal Programming Language

Pascal is a procedural computing language that is highly imperative. It was introduced by Nikalaus Wirth in some late 1960s and he later described it as a minuscule, programming language while publishing in the 1970s. It targeted efficient programming practices such as structured programming and data structuring. In 1985, an upgradation to Pascal was launched especially for object oriented coding which was called Object Pascal.

The developer aimed at giving birth to a language that was efficient in speed as well as compilation of codes. It was based on structured and data programming which he highlighted in his book "Algorithms + Data structures = programs". Pascal was derived from a language known as ALGOL 60 but it worked on new theories and mechanisms. It allowed uses to create dynamic and recursive data structures namely- lists, trees and graphs. Other vital features being records, enumerations and dynamically placed variables with certain pointers and sets. Pascal is also known for its strong typing that implies the non-conversion or interpretation of one type of data. These processing is well known in recently developed languages. Few other languages that inspired Pascal were Simula 67 and ALGOL W.

History of Pascal language

Pascal began as a programming language designed to teach young programmers the art of structured programming. Pascal became an undergraduate course for quite a many students. Different versions of it have been used for research project and video games along with embedded systems. Modern Pascal compilers are rigorously used in today's world of programming.

Pascal was the main high-level language that influenced the development of applications of the Apple Lisa and in the beginning of Macintosh. Several parts of the Macintosh operating system were converted to Motorola 68000 assembly language manually using the pascal source codes. It was used in many other applications after that because it operating system became the personal favorite of users in 1980s.

Despite initial criticism, Pascal evolved over a number of programming issues and found use in several applications from ISO to commercial development. This was mainly in the 1990s.

Advantages of Pascal language

1. Pascal has an uncluttered and in fact, pretty much clean syntax that makes your programs easier to read.
2. Compiler has the ability to figure out on itself which files are to be recompiled and that job is not required to be done manually by user.
3. In Pascal, every namespace gets its own identifier and that prevents errors while coding.
4. Pascal is installed with a free integrated development environment (IDE) which you can use to write, compile and debug your programs. It can be used over several platforms.
5. It is considered that Pascal was created for beginners and was only useful to the undergraduate students. However, Pascal went on to be one of the most used programming language in history of computers. It is used in high-tech applications and integrated assemblers.
6. Object oriented programming can also be carried out over Pascal and that makes it one of the most preferred languages for generating object-oriented codes.
7. Pascal is compatible with other compilers as well.
8. Pascal is known for its high speed compilation and low memory usage ranking it among the favorites of users.

Disadvantages of Pascal language

1. Though useful, it is quite an old language when compared to recent python and Java. This does not allow Pascal to operate on the current and latest devices and applications.
2. Since it is a high level language, the control over the generated codes is limited. The strong typing feature adds on to this issue making it less user friendly in the process.
3. Pascal compilers are completely different from C compilers. Due to that reason, all programs written in other languages cannot be compiled on a Pascal compiler.
4. Pascal is considered a slow language when it operates on object-oriented codes.
5. Pascal does not support a lot of other graphic compilers.

Applications of Pascal language

1. Pascal is used to develop many frameworks and applications.
2. It is used for creating object oriented programs which opens its uses to quite a lot of applications.
3. Video games are also created and developed using Pascal.
4. It happens to be the language used by most of the students due to its simple structure in their undergraduate courses.
5. Web programming also uses Pascal to a great extent.
6. Due to its own huge runtime library, it can be used on various platforms apart from games and frameworks.
7. There are many widely popular applications which use Pascal as their basic foundation and one of them is the famous video chatting platform, skype.

Why should you learn?

Pascal is one of the best languages you should learn if you are a beginner. The fact that it was used by students in their undergraduate courses says it all. Also, it is used in web developing and the creation of video games. So if you want to make a career in that field, you must need Pascal.

Object oriented programming another added advantage for any program that you might need in future and Pascal provides with such a platform. Apart from that, the simple syntax decreases the chances of errors and that holds a valuable advantage in the wide sphere of programming.

Example of Pascal Programming Language

The given program will print "Hey, how r u"

{`

program Hey(output);

begin

  WriteLn('Hey, how r u')

  {no ";" is required after the last statement of a block - 

   adding one adds a "null statement" to the program}

end.
`}