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. 2
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. 2
Classification
Typing Discipline
Statically Typed 1
Typing Discipline
Strongly Typed 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.

Follows Typing Discipline

Static Typing, Concepts
Strong Typing, Concepts

In Field

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

Influenced

Ada, Programming Languages
Source Wikipedia: Ada (programming language)
Karel (programming language), Programming Languages
Source Karel (programming language) (Wikipedia)
Turbo Pascal, Programming Languages
Source Programming Language Database (PLDB): Turbo Pascal
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. Wikidata: Pascal
  • Wikidata Q81571, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)
  • Wikidata Q81571 P571 (inception)
  • Wikidata Q81571 P7078 (typing discipline)
View the Source
2. 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: paradigm
    Imperative programming, Imperative, Structured programming, structured
  • Infobox: released
    1970
  • Legacy section
  • In Field: Programming Language Theory
  • Influenced By: ALGOL, Lead paragraph, on ALGOL 60 pattern
  • In Group: ALGOL-Derived Languages, Lead section
    Pascal was developed on the pattern of the ALGOL 60 language
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
Programming Language Database (PLDB): Turbo Pascal
Influenced: Turbo Pascal, PLDB entry description
Quote, Influenced: Turbo Pascal, PLDB entry description
Turbo Pascal is a software development system that includes a compiler and an integrated development environment (IDE) for the Pascal programming language
View the Source
Karel (programming language) (Wikipedia)
Influenced: Karel (programming language), Infobox, influenced byView 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.