GNU Pascal

GNU Pascal logo

GNU Pascal (GPC) is a Pascal compiler composed of a frontend to GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), similar to the way Fortran and other languages were added to GCC. GNU Pascal is ISO 7185 compatible, and it implements "most" of the ISO 10206 Extended Pascal standard.

The major advantage of piggybacking GNU Pascal on the GCC compiler is that it is instantly portable to any platform the GCC compiler supports. However since GPC is a frontend, it does have to adapt if major changes are done to GCC (like a major new version). Typically, new major versions are adopted only slowly (still mostly at 3.x, with 4.x experimental builds). This is probably one of the reasons why developers are looking at a C targeting backend.

In July 2010 a developer publicly asked opinion on the future of GNU Pascal, due to developer shortage and maintenance issues as a GCC port. There was a lively discussion on the maillist where the developers seemed to lean towards reimplementing in C++ with a C code generating backend. The maillist went to sleep again, and as of January 2013 no further releases or announcements had been made.

See also

• Free Pascal

External links

• The GNU Pascal (GPC) website
• Standard Pascal — Resources and history of original, standard Pascal
• Pascal User's Group Newsletters — An early Pascal history resource that contains many letters from Wirth and others concerning Pascal.
• Pascal and its Successors — An article by Niklaus Wirth about the development of Pascal, Modula-2 and Oberon
• Free Pascal Compiler — A currently maintained alternative to the GNU Pascal Compiler - See also Wikipedia article on Free Pascal