science

PascalABC.NET

PascalABC.NET is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand PascalABC.NET rather than just read about it. In short: PascalABC.NET is a high-level general-purpose programming language supporting multiple paradigms. PascalABC.NET is based on Delphi's Object Pascal, but also has influences from C#, Python, Kotlin, and Haskell.

Key takeaways

PascalABC.NET belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect PascalABC.NET to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of PascalABC.NET from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

PascalABC.NET is a high-level general-purpose programming language supporting multiple paradigms. PascalABC.NET is based on Delphi's Object Pascal, but also has influences from C#, Python, Kotlin, and Haskell. It is distributed both as a command-line tool for Windows (.NET framework), Linux and MacOS (Mono), and with an integrated development environment for Windows and Linux, including interactive debugger, IntelliSense system, form designer, code templates and code auto-formatting. PascalABC.NET is implemented for the .NET framework platform, so that it is compatible with all .NET libraries and utilizes all the features of Common Language Runtime, such as garbage collection, exception handling, and generics. Some language constructions, e.g. tuples, sequences, and lambdas, are based on regular .NET types. PascalABC.NET is ideologically close to Oxygene, but unlike it, provides high compatibility with Delphi.

History of PascalABC.NET PascalABC.NET was developed by a group of enthusiasts at the Institute of Mathematics, Mechanics, and Computer Science in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. In 2003, a predecessor of the modern PascalABC.NET, called Pascal ABC, was implemented by associate professor Stanislav Mikhalkovich to be used for teaching schoolchildren instead of Turbo Pascal, which became outdated and incompatible with modern operating systems but was still used for educational purposes. Pascal ABC was implemented as an interpreted programming language, that led to a significant lack of performance. Four years after that it was completely rewritten by students Ivan Bondarev, Alexander Tkachuk, and Sergey Ivanov as a compiled programming language for the .NET platform. In 2009, PascalABC.NET started to be actively used for teaching high school students. By 2015, the number of users of the language had increased significantly. It began to be actively used throughout Russia in schools and at programming contests, surpassing Free Pascal. Since then, the PascalABC.NET developers have set themselves the goal of actively incorporating modern features into the language. In the same year, PascalABC.NET became an open source project distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPLv3). In 2017 and 2022, independent audit of PascalABC.NET public repository was conducted. Based on the results of the static check, potentially dangerous code fragments were listed that require additional analysis by developers. It was also noted that the overall quality of the code could be improved. To do this, code duplication and redundant checks should be eliminated, and refactoring should be performed more carefully.

Use in school and higher education Designed for education, PascalABC.NET remains the most common programming language in Russian schools and one of the recommended languages for passing the Unified State Exam on informatics. In the Southern Federal University, it is used as the first language for teaching students majoring in computer science, and for teaching children in one of the largest computer schools in Russia. PascalABC.NET is widely used as a basic programming language in pedagogical universities for the training of computer science teachers. It also serves as a tool for scientific computing. PascalABC.NET is also built into a number of validation systems used for programming competitions. In 2020, during anti-COVID lockdowns and home schooling period, PascalABC.NET website was ranked 3rd in Yandex traffic rating in the "Programming" category, and the number of downloads of the installation kit exceeded 10000 a day. Though the core of the PascalABC.NET community is located in Russia, the language is also known in other countries such as Belarus, Romania, Indonesia, Algeria.

Language syntax

Differences between Delphi and PascalABC.NET

New features • loop statement • for loop with a step • foreach loop with an index • a..b ranges • short function definition syntax • method implementation can be placed inside a class definition • sequence of T type as an abstraction of arrays, lists and sets • lambda functions • auto classes - classes with an automatically generated constructor • one-dimensional and multi-dimensional array slicesSome other features such as inline variable declarations, type inference, and for statement with a variable declaration are standard in the current version of Delphi. However, PascalABC.NET pioneered these features in 2007, while in Delphi they were implemented in 2018.

Changed features strings in case statements sets based on arbitrary type: set of string constructors can be invoked with new T(...) syntax type extension methods instead of class helpers modules can be defined in a simplified form (without interface and implementation sections)

Not implemented features records with variant parts open arrays nested class definitions inline assembly code

Functional style features In PascalABC.NET, functions are first-class objects. They can be assigned to variables, passed as parameters, and returned from other functions. Functional type is set in the form T -> Res. An anonymous function can be assigned to the variable of this type:

Here is an example of superposition of two functions:

Superposition operation is defined in the standard library:

In the book "How To Program Effectively In Delphi" and in the corresponding video tutorials, Dr. Kevin Bond, a programmer and a Computer Science teaching specialist, notes that PascalABC.NET has powerful functional programming capabilities which are missing in Delphi. As an example, partial function application is demonstrated:

Code examples PascalABC.NET is a multi-paradigm programming language. It allows one to use different coding styles from oldschool Pascal to functional and object-oriented programming. The same task can be solved in different styles as follows:

Usual PascalABC.NET style

Procedural style

Functional style This solution uses .NET extension methods for sequences and PascalABC.NET-specific range (a..b).

Object-oriented style This solution demonstrates PascalABC.NET-specific short function definition style.

Close to regular C# style It is possible to write programs without usage of PascalABC.NET standard library. All standard .NET Framework classes and methods can be used directly.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with PascalABC.NET

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what PascalABC.NET claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to PascalABC.NET before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about PascalABC.NET ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of PascalABC.NET

In research: PascalABC.NET appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses PascalABC.NET in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: PascalABC.NET is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics .NET programming languages, Class-based programming languages, Educational programming languages, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for PascalABC.NET outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study PascalABC.NET in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what PascalABC.NET means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain PascalABC.NET out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is PascalABC.NET in simple terms?

Why does PascalABC.NET matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study PascalABC.NET?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on PascalABC.NET.