in defense of Pascal

Sadhunathan Nadesan sadhu at sddev.castandcrew.com
Thu Jun 25 21:29:06 EDT 2009


> Here in Plovdiv they teach High School kids PASCAL, which is, unless you
> are some sort of retro-geek, a major turn-off. I shall, very shortly,
> become a "pusher" for RR, and be trotting round the school giving demos
> of just what can be done.


Alternate point of view:

I love Pascal.  Just like those high school kids, it was the first
language I was taught.  It enforces excellent habits such as strong typing
which then carry over into other languages.  Great teaching language,
and if you study the work of Nickolas Wirth, such as "Algorithms +
Data Structures = Programs" (if memory serves) you will appreciate it's
elegence and power for recursion, for exmple.  It also has great string
handling routines, as does Rev.  Much better to learn Pascal before
studying C, to understand the safeguards that have been removed.

It is a practical language too.  There are free compilers.  It is
widely used in Europe although not so much in the US, but of course,
it originated in Switzerland.  There are large system built in it.  My
consulting company's first project was in Pascal, and was very successful.
That was more than 25 years ago, but today I have CGI programs written
in Pascal that are very effective for my current employer.

It is a language with a rich history, as is Rev from hypercard roots.
Turbo Pascal from Borland blew the doors off anything else in it's day.
My variant was UCSD Pascal, that was my school, and the pioneers who
created the P-system ahead of their time saw their work blossom as Java
many years later.

Perhaps I'd be considered a retro-geek but my view is, there is still
a lot of value in Pascal as a first language for high school kids, it
should not be simply dismissed. Sometimes the old ways are the better
ways. Actually, wasn't that part of your point about educational programs,
and nose to the grindstone study habits?  Just like Rev, Pascal is not
suited for everything, but it's also not a "major turn-off" to everyone.

On the other hand, RR for high school kids would be a great addition
to any CS program.  No argument there  :-)

-- Sadhu



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