Computing Atlas

How Computing Was Built
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme

Switch Atlas

Programming Language

Pascal

Procedural Language

Pascal is an imperative and procedural programming language designed by Niklaus Wirth to encourage structured programming and sound data structuring practices, built on the pattern of ALGOL 60. It was widely adopted in education and commercial software through the 1970s and 1980s before being displaced by C and C++ in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
First Released
1970 1
Paradigm
Imperative, procedural and structured. 1
Significance
Became a standard introductory teaching language in university computer science courses through the 1980s and saw commercial use, including in early Adobe Photoshop and parts of the classic Macintosh operating system, before C and C++ displaced it. 1
Connections

Base Language For

Modula-2, Programming Languages

General knowledge, not independently re-fetched: Wirth designed Modula-2 (1978) as a successor to Pascal, adding modules and coroutines.

In Field

Programming Language Theory, Fields
Source Wikipedia: Pascal (programming language)

Influenced

Ada, Programming Languages
Source Wikipedia: Ada (programming language)
Turing (programming language), Programming Languages

Influenced By

ALGOL, Programming Languages
Source Wikipedia: Pascal (programming language)

Invented By

Niklaus Wirth, Pioneers
Source Wikipedia: Niklaus Wirth

Preceded By

ALGOL W, Programming Languages

General knowledge, not independently re-fetched: after ALGOL W was not adopted as ALGOL's official successor, Wirth developed Pascal (1970) directly building on the ALGOL W design.

Sources
1. Wikipedia: Pascal (programming language)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead paragraph
    Pascal is an imperative and procedural programming language, designed by Niklaus Wirth as a small, efficient language intended to encourage good programming practices using structured programming.
  • Infobox
  • Infobox, first appeared date
  • Legacy section
  • In Field: Programming Language Theory
  • Influenced By: ALGOL, Lead paragraph, on ALGOL 60 pattern
View the Source
Wikipedia: Ada (programming language)
Wikimedia FoundationInfluenced: Ada, Lead paragraph, on Pascal inspirationView the Source
Wikipedia: Niklaus Wirth
Wikimedia FoundationInvented By: Niklaus Wirth, Programming languages sectionView the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.