Why use Pascal programming language?

Why would anyone want to use Pascal, a programming language designed decades ago?

Some might be surprised that Pascal is still "alive" today, and does not belong to some IT museum.

Let us try to see what Pascal can be used for nowadays.

Educators and students

Pascal is used by both educators and students.

Learning programming fundamentals

Pascal is, in fact, an excellent choice for learning fundamental programming concepts, as it encourages good programming practices using structured programming and data structuring.

Math

There is a rumour that mathematicians like to use Pascal. Why? Well, first of all, remember that it was named after the French mathematician, philosopher and physicist Blaise Pascal. ☺

Also, it might be because of its correctness in terms of how it is written.

Mathematicians hate to see expressions like a=a+1 ❌ in some other programming languages, simply because a is not equal to a+1 in mathematics. 

In Pascal, one writes a:=a+1 ✅ which is not a mathematical expression, thus acceptable.

One can correctly use the equation symbol in Pascal, i.e. in the "if" statement: if a = 3 which is fully acceptable by mathematicians. ☺

OOP

Pascal was originally a procedural language, but what about Object-Oriented Programming? 

The more modern variants like Object Pascal, Free Pascal, and Delphi support OOP.

Cross-Platform Compatibility

Pascal compilers are available for various platforms/operating systems: Windows, OS-X and Linux.

Efficiency and Performance

Pascal is not an interpreted but a compiled language. The code is first compiled, then linked, and then executed:

Target OS: Linux for x86-64

Compiling main.p

Linking main

26 lines compiled, 2.8 sec

The code generated by Pascal compilers is highly efficient, making it a good choice for performance-critical applications.

Embedded systems

Pascal's compiled nature and strong type system contribute to the development of efficient and reliable embedded systems.

Legacy Systems

Many systems were developed with Pascal or related programming languages in the 1980s and 90s. Many of those systems still need to be operational, i.e., in industries like banking and manufacturing, simply because porting them to a modern programming language or platform is very expensive and complex. You know the saying, "If it works, do not fix it", and this is especially true when we talk about i.e. core banking systems.

Nostalgia

 Pascal still holds a special place in the hearts of many programmers. 💖

Compilers

Compilers are available today, and some are free, thanks to Florian Klaempfl and others. 

Free Pascal Compiler version 3.2.0 [2022/02/07] for x86_64

Copyright (c) 1993-2020 by Florian Klaempfl and others

IDE

The very popular IDE that can be installed on your computer locally is Lazarus.

Online IDEs

Some of the online IDEs are:

• Replit.com
• Jdoodle.com
• OnlineGDB.com

All of them are either free or have a free tier.

Conclusion

Pascal is still alive 🌞 why not try it?