View source for Microsoft Pascal

{{Short description|Implementation of Pascal programming language}}
{{Infobox software
| name                   = Microsoft Pascal
| screenshot             = Microsoft_Pascal.jpg
| caption                = Microsoft Pascal Compiler for the 286 XENIX Operating System User's Guide, part number 8511I-330-05, document number 020-092-013, from 1985.
| developer              = 
| author                 = [[Microsoft Corporation]]
| released               = {{Start date and age|1980}}<ref name=microsoftpascalhistory>[https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/blogs/virtual_pc_guy/the-microsoft-archives The Microsoft Archives], By Ben Armstrong, 8 Dec 2004, MSDN Blogs, ''One of the cool things about working at Microsoft is having access to the Microsoft Archives.  It turns out that Microsoft has been quite fastidious about keep record of all product and press releases since the beginning of time.  ...In 1980 Microsoft actually released their own PASCAL compiler - this was something that I never knew.  This compiler was maintained through to 1988.''</ref><ref name=mp33>[https://books.google.com/books?id=jBnPebByBGkC&dq=%22Microsoft+Pascal%22&pg=PA162 Advert: Microsoft Pascal (version 3.3)], Page 162, PC Mag, 29 Oct 1985</ref>
| latest_release_version = 4.0
| latest_release_date    = {{Start date and age|1988}}<ref>{{cite web|access-date=April 13, 2005|url=http://www.emsps.com/oldtools/msver.htm#pascal|title=Microsoft compiler and operating system detailed versions information|work=Old Software Bought and Sold, EMS Professional software}}</ref><ref name=4pascalsreview>[https://books.google.com/books?id=fToEAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Microsoft+Pascal%22&pg=PA51-IA19 Product comparison: 4 Pascals for DOS], By John Walkenback, InfoWorld, 12 Sep 1988, Page 57:( Microsoft Pascal)</ref>
| latest preview version =
| latest preview date    =
| operating system       = [[MS-DOS]], [[Xenix]], [[OS/2]]
| language               = 
| genre                  = [[Pascal programming language]]
| license                = [[Commercial software|Commercial]]
| website                = <!--{{URL|}}-->
}}
'''Microsoft Pascal''' is a discontinued implementation of the [[Pascal programming language]] developed by the [[Microsoft Corporation]] for [[compiler|compiling]] programs for running on its [[MS-DOS]] and [[Xenix]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://winworldpc.com/product/microsoft-pascal/40|title = Microsoft Pascal 4.0}}</ref> operating systems and, in later versions, on [[OS/2]] (like many other Microsoft programming tools, albeit they are only capable of generating 16-bit programs for the latter).

==Overview==
Microsoft Pascal version 1.0 was released in 1980.<ref name=microsoftpascalhistory />  The last version of Microsoft Pascal to be released was version 4.0 in 1988,<ref name=microsoftpascalhistory /> when Microsoft Pascal was superseded by '''Microsoft QuickPascal''', a cheaper development tool that Microsoft produced in order to compete with [[Borland]]'s [[Turbo Pascal]].

Microsoft Pascal was priced at {{US$|long=no|300}},<ref name=4pascalsreview /> whereas QuickPascal was priced between {{val|p=$|25| and |50}}, and the differences between the two were similar to those between [[Microsoft BASIC]] Professional Development System and Microsoft [[QuickBASIC]].<ref>{{cite web|access-date=April 13, 2005|url=http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.basic.misc/msg/b1d69edc93558b62|title=Usenet post by Tom Hanlin|work=Google Groups}}</ref>

Unlike the ISO-compliant Microsoft Pascal product, QuickPascal went after the ultimate compatibility with Turbo Pascal. This included not only source-level compatibility, but rather complete binary compatibility with widely available unit libraries for the competitor's compiler. To achieve this level of compatibility, QuickPascal moved away from the common file format (OBJ) and tool set (LINK, LIB) shared by Microsoft's other compilers.

==References==
{{reflist}}
;Notes
{{refbegin}}
* Jon Udell, Clash of the Object-Oriented Pascals, BYTE, July, 1989.
* M.I.Trofimov, The End of Pascal?, BYTE, March, 1990, p.&nbsp;36.
{{refend}}

{{Pascal programming language family}}
{{Microsoft development tools}}
{{Integrated development environments}}

[[Category:Discontinued Microsoft development tools|Pascal]]
[[Category:Pascal programming language family]]

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