Games - Turbo Pascal

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Turbo Pascal is a compiler and a powerful Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for the Pascal programming language running mainly on MS-DOS, developed by Borland. The name Borland Pascal was generally reserved for the high end packages (with more libraries and standard library source code) whilst the original cheap and widely known version was sold as Turbo Pascal. The name Borland Pascal is also used more generically for Borland's dialect of Pascal.

History

Turbo Pascal was based on the Blue Label Pascal compiler originally produced for the NasSys cassette-based operating system of the Nascom microcomputer in 1981 by Anders Hejlsberg. This was first rewritten as the Compass Pascal compiler for the CP/M operating system and then as the Turbo Pascal compiler for DOS and CP/M. A version of Turbo Pascal was available for the Apple Macintosh from about 1986 but was eventually discontinued around 1992.

Version 1.0

See also . Borland licensed the PolyPascal compiler core, written by Anders Hejlsberg (Poly Data was the name of his company in Denmark), and added the user interface and editor. Anders joined the company as an employee and was the architect for all versions of the Turbo Pascal compiler and the first three versions of Borland Delphi.

When the first version of Turbo Pascal appeared on November 20 1983, the type of IDE it used was relatively new. On its debut in the American market, Turbo Pascal retailed for USD$49.99. The integrated Pascal compiler also was of very good quality compared to other Pascal products and was affordable above all. The "Turbo" name alluded to its compilation speed as well as the speed of the executables it produced. The speed of these "com" executable files was a revelation for developers whose only previous experience programming the PC was with Microsoft's BASIC.

The IDE was incredible for its day. It was simple and intuitive, and it had a menu system that was well organized. Early versions used the WordStar control key layout. Later versions of the IDE had the ability to instantly look up the definitions of the keywords of the language just by putting the cursor over a keyword and hitting the help button. The definitions also frequently included example code that used the keyword. This enabled the inexperienced programmer to learn Pascal simply by using the IDE, without actually requiring help from a book.

Later versions

Later versions had the ability to easily integrate assembly language within Pascal. The user could single step through a program quite easily, and when they got to an assembler block, they could single step through that too. All the while, the user could add 'watches' on variables and registers quite easily in a well placed window in the IDE. Even programs using IBM PC graphics mode would flip to graphics mode then flip back to text mode while they were single stepping. With a single keypress, they could flip back and forth to graphics mode at will.

On top of all of the previous features, the IDE included a code profiler that could report on which parts of the program were using the most time. The books included with Borland Pascal had detailed descriptions of the Intel assembler language, going so far as to provide the clock cycles required of each instruction. Overall this system, as a whole, made for a relatively pleasant experience when trying to optimize code; the user never had to leave the IDE. This all worked 'out of the box' and was put together so simply that a high school student could use it.

Even though it is now mostly regarded as obsolete, Turbo Pascal is still taught at secondary, sixth form level and University level in the island of Malta, as well as being the state-approved educational programming language for all South African secondary schools. Today it continues to be taught in some universities around the world as an introduction to computer programming, usually continuing on with C and/or Java. Some lecturers prefer to use Turbo Pascal 5.5 as it is very simple (in comparison to more modern IDEs like Microsoft Visual Studio or Borland JBuilder), introduces students less familiar with computing to using the keyboard and keyboard shortcuts (TP 5.5 has no mouse support), familiarises students with DOS commands (which are largely the same as Windows NT's Command Prompt) and it is now available for free download so students willing to program on their own PCs can do so freely without possible legal complications. Unfortunately it is debatable whether it is worth the time of teaching a very deprecated language that may be easier to initially learn than others (and still uses well-structered syntax unlike BASIC), as it is inevitable that more contemporary languages will have to be taught afterwards.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Turbo Pascal ]

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Games - Turbo Pascal

History

Version 1.0

Later versions

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