Modern programming in Pascal

About PascalABC.NET

What is PascalABC.NET?

PascalABC.NET is a modern, statically typed, general-purpose programming language and programming system for the .NET platform.

Despite its name, PascalABC.NET is neither an implementation of classic Pascal nor a Delphi dialect. It inherits part of the Pascal syntax and its emphasis on structured, readable programs, while providing its own language features and an independent path of development.

PascalABC.NET can be used for a first program, for studying algorithms and data structures, for learning object-oriented and functional programming, for scientific computing and data analysis, and for building applications with .NET libraries.

Its central idea is to make modern programming approachable without reducing the language to a limited teaching tool.

Why PascalABC.NET was created

Languages designed for a first programming course are often outgrown as tasks become more complex. Production-oriented languages, on the other hand, may require beginners to deal with considerable technical detail before they have mastered fundamental programming concepts.

PascalABC.NET is designed to support a longer learning and development path within one language: from small programs and classical algorithms to modern abstractions, the .NET ecosystem, and substantial software projects.

The language remains statically typed and compiled. The compiler detects many errors before a program is run, while compiled code provides efficient execution.

The design therefore aims for a balance of clarity, early error detection, expressive power, and performance.

Language design principles

From algorithms to modern abstractions

PascalABC.NET makes it possible to move naturally from classical algorithmic programming to higher-level data processing while retaining an understanding of the underlying operations.

Suppose an array contains several words and we need their lengths. The operation can first be expressed as a loop:

var words := ['cold','white','bad','angry','ripe'];
foreach var word in words do
  Print(word.Length);

The same task can be written with Select and a lambda expression:

words.Select(word -> word.Length).Print;

These are two representations of the same operation at different levels of abstraction. Once a learner understands the loop, Select becomes a concise expression of familiar behavior rather than a hidden mechanism.

Operations can then be composed naturally. To find the shortest word length, add .Min:

words.Select(word -> word.Length).Min

The path works in both directions: a library operation can also be explored by implementing the algorithm behind it. This supports different ways of teaching and learning the same concept.

Static typing and early error detection

PascalABC.NET checks syntax, types, scopes, calls, and other semantic rules before a program starts.

var n := 10;
n := 'abc';

Here n has the type integer, inferred from its initial value. Assigning a string to it is therefore rejected by the compiler before execution.

Type inference avoids unnecessary repetition, but it does not make variables dynamically typed. Explicit declarations and inferred types coexist, allowing code to be as explicit as the task requires.

The concepts learned in PascalABC.NET—types, functions, scopes, classes, interfaces, generics, and lambda expressions—transfer directly to many other modern programming languages.

Explicit when useful, concise when clear

A variable type can be written explicitly:

var n: integer := 10;

or inferred by the compiler:

var n := 10;

Both declarations create a statically typed variable. The explicit form is useful when the type is important to the explanation or design; inference is useful when repeating it would only add noise.

Likewise, an expression can be written as a compact chain:

var sum := a.Where(x -> x in 2..5).Sum;

or divided into named steps:

var filtered := a.Where(x -> x in 2..5);
var sum := filtered.Sum;

PascalABC.NET does not pursue brevity for its own sake. Its goal is concise code that preserves structure and readability.

Multiple programming paradigms

Programs can be written in procedural, object-based, object-oriented, and functional styles, or combine these approaches.

The language supports classes, inheritance, interfaces, polymorphism, generic classes and routines, operator overloading, exceptions, extension methods, lambda expressions, and other modern programming tools.

This makes it possible to use one language for explicit algorithms with loops and conditions, object models, and functional processing of sequences.

Origins and evolution

PascalABC.NET has been developed as an independent language since 2007.

Its syntactic foundation is connected to Pascal and Object Pascal, while C# had a substantial influence on its architecture. Ideas from Python, Kotlin, Java, Haskell, and other languages have also been adapted where they improve clarity and expressive power.

The language does not simply reproduce features from elsewhere. New constructs are evaluated by how well they help people understand, express, and maintain programs.

Some features appeared in PascalABC.NET long before they became common in other languages of the Pascal family. For example, declaring a variable directly in a loop header has been supported since 2007:

for var i := 1 to 10 do

Block-scoped declarations, type inference, extended loops, ranges, tuples, extension methods, lambda expressions, and sequences now form a distinctive PascalABC.NET programming style.

PascalABC.NET is therefore best understood as an independent modern language with Pascal-like syntax, rather than as a compatibility implementation of an older Pascal dialect.

Where PascalABC.NET can be used

Learning modern programming

PascalABC.NET supports a gradual path from first programs to advanced concepts without requiring a change of language at every stage. Its readable syntax, static type system, concise constructs, and compiler diagnostics make the relationship between source code and program behavior easier to follow.

The programming system includes examples, automated assessment tools, unit testing support, and the Programming Taskbook collection of programming exercises.

Because the language is not restricted to beginner-level constructs, the same environment can later be used for data structures, object-oriented design, functional programming, generic algorithms, and .NET libraries.

Scientific and computational work

As a general-purpose .NET language, PascalABC.NET can be used for data processing, numerical computation, modeling, and computational experiments.

ML PascalABC.NET is a machine-learning and data-analysis library without external dependencies. It includes tools for tabular data, linear algebra, statistics, visualization, and machine-learning algorithms.

The modern PascalABC.NET compiler supports .NET 10, providing access to current .NET libraries and APIs on Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Application development

PascalABC.NET combines a compact source notation with static checking, compiled performance, and access to the .NET platform. It can be used for command-line tools, educational software, data-processing utilities, prototypes, and general application development.

The language’s multi-paradigm design allows a project to begin with straightforward procedural code and evolve toward generic, object-oriented, or functional structures when needed.

.NET platform and development tools

PascalABC.NET is both a language and a complete programming system.

The PascalABC.NET IDE is designed for a quick start while providing practical development features: code completion, code hints, automatic formatting, error diagnostics, program examples, automated assessment, and unit testing.

The PascalABC.NET extension for Visual Studio Code provides IntelliSense, error reporting, compilation, and program execution.

Two compiler options are available:

  • a .NET Framework 4.7.2 compiler for Windows and for Linux through Mono;
  • the modern PascalABC.NET compiler for .NET 10, supporting Windows, Linux, and macOS.

This allows developers to choose between the dedicated PascalABC.NET IDE and a familiar cross-platform Visual Studio Code workflow.

Development and community

PascalABC.NET is distributed under the LGPL free software license. The language, compilers, libraries, and development tools continue to evolve, with feedback from educators, learners, researchers, and developers informing the project.

The IDE and compiler diagnostics support multiple interface languages. Programs may use Unicode identifiers and names from different writing systems.

Project source code is available on GitHub, and users can follow development or ask questions through the project’s community channels.