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Why use Pascal?

Table of Contents

  * 1. Short answer
  * 2. More elaborate answer
      + 2.1. Modern clean language to develop maintainable
        applications
      + 2.2. Fast
      + 2.3. Cross-platform
      + 2.4. Welcoming
      + 2.5. General purpose
      + 2.6. Ecosystem of tools

1. Short answer

Object Pascal is a

  * modern,

  * readable,

  * fast,

  * type-safe,

  * cross-platform

programming language.

It is also easy to pick up if you know any OOP language. Learn more
in our Modern Object Pascal Introduction for Programmers.

VS Code completion

2. More elaborate answer

2.1. Modern clean language to develop maintainable applications

  * Object Pascal is a modern programming language. It supports
    classes, units, properties, generics, interfaces, reflection,
    closures...  Everything you expect from a modern OOP language.

  * The syntax puts emphasis on readable code.

  * The language is type-safe. E.g. special types for booleans,
    strings, chars, sets, enums, ranges. Type conversions are either
    really safe, or have to be done explicitly.

  * There are additional run-time checks, e.g. array range checking,
    integer overflow checking, assertions, memory leak checking.
    Notes:

      + You can turn off these checks in release version, but use
        them in debug. When compiling using CGE build tool / editor,
        we have debug / release modes that automatically do this for
        you.

      + What are range and overflow checks (and errors) in Pascal

      + Detecting Memory Leaks

2.2. Fast

  * It is compiled to a native code and so is fast "out of the box".
    There's seldom any need to do low-level optimizations.

  * But if you need to, language can be as low-level as you want.
    E.g. you can use pointers, do pointer math, write OS and
    CPU-specific code, even add pieces in assembly. You can work on
    the same level as C or C++ does.

         But you will probably not need to get too "low level" in
    Note usual applications. E.g. Castle Game Engine has zero
         assembler code to maximize portability and code readability
         and we're still fast.

  * Compilation is also fast.

    pascal fast compilation

    2.5 seconds to get desktop build, 10.1 seconds to get Android
    build of a new project, opened for the 1st time. Try to match
    that with your engine :)

2.3. Cross-platform

  * Desktop (Windows, Linux, macOS, Raspberry Pi, FreeBSD, probably
    every Unix... ),

  * mobile (Android, iOS),

  * consoles (Nintendo Switch, special in CGE),

  * web (both WebAssembly and JS (using pas2js)).

See also Castle Game Engine platforms supported.

2.4. Welcoming

  * In Castle Game Engine case, engine code and game code are in the
    same language. Every user is contributor!

  * And the engine is open-source.

Don't hesitate to fork CGE to adjust it to your needs.

2.5. General purpose

There are existing libraries (units) in Pascal for everything:

  * database

  * XML, JSON

  * A.I.

  * blockchain

  * networking

Moreover you can easily integrate with (link to) any existing library
with C API. Any renderer, sound library, physics - we can use
everything.

You can also use Python libraries in Pascal easily.

2.6. Ecosystem of tools

  * FPC - Free Pascal Compiler, open-source.

  * Lazarus - IDE for Pascal, on top of FPC, also open-source.

  * Delphi - commercial compiler and IDE for Pascal.

  * VS Code support - CGE, as well as many others in the Pascal
    ecosystem, explicitly support integration with VS Code.

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Copyright Michalis Kamburelis and Castle Game Engine Contributors.

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