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Questions tagged [pascal]

For questions regarding the use or installation of the Pascal language on retrocomputers.

99 votes
1 answer
30k views

Why did MS-DOS applications built using Turbo Pascal fail to start with a division by zero error on faster systems?

On faster MS-DOS systems, it wasn't entirely uncommon for applications built using Borland's Turbo Pascal to fail to start, and (before exiting back to the command prompt) to report a division by zero ...
user's user avatar
  • 5,336
22 votes
6 answers
5k views

What caused the downfall of Pascal? [closed]

From 1985 to 1990 Borland's Turbo Pascal was at least as popular as C for DOS systems. Turbo Pascal was especially popular because of it's ground breaking BGI graphics interface while C was stalled in ...
jwzumwalt's user avatar
  • 4,499
17 votes
3 answers
2k views

x86 as a Pascal Machine?

From this answer by gsg about the usage of certain x86 instructions: Note that the x86 was originally designed as a Pascal machine, which is why there are instructions to support nested functions (...
Evan Carroll's user avatar
  • 3,388
39 votes
4 answers
13k views

Where does this esoteric Pascal operator come from?

In the documentation for an implementation of Pascal for a Soviet computer, I've encountered a very weird language extension. I'll try to translate it: Branching operator (branch) Syntax &...
Leo B.'s user avatar
  • 19.4k
17 votes
4 answers
4k views

Why does Pascal have numeric labels?

Pascal was intended, in part, to be a simple language to implement. Some of the design decisions reflecting this are Declarations/definitions must be given in a strict order (labels, constants, types,...
texdr.aft's user avatar
  • 3,627
7 votes
1 answer
510 views

Was dynamic type check in Pascal commonplace?

The BESM-6 Pascal compiler I'm experimenting with has a notable difference from Standard Pascal: formal arguments of formal parameters-procedures or functions are not specified, but are checked at ...
Leo B.'s user avatar
  • 19.4k