GNU Pascal (GPC) is a

Pascal Pascal, Pascal's or PASCAL may refer to: People and fictional characters * Pascal (given name), including a list of people with the name * Pascal (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** Blaise Pascal, Frenc ...

compiler In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs tha ...

composed of a frontend to

GNU Compiler Collection The GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) is an optimizing compiler produced by the GNU Project supporting various programming languages, hardware architectures and operating systems. The Free Software Foundation (FSF) distributes GCC as free softwar ...

(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.GPC Manual
/ref> The major advantage of piggybacking GNU Pascal on the GCC compiler is that it is instantly

portable Portable may refer to: General * Portable building, a manufactured structure that is built off site and moved in upon completion of site and utility work * Portable classroom, a temporary building installed on the grounds of a school to provide ...

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 develope
publicly asked opinion
(it vanished from the web between July 2014 and June 2015) on the future of GNU Pascal, due to developer shortage and maintenance issues as a GCC port. There was a

where the developers seemed to lean towards reimplementing in C++ with a C code generating backend. The maillist went to sleep again, and no further releases or announcements about the future course of the project have been made.

Dev-Pascal Dev-Pascal is a free software, free integrated development environment (IDE) distributed under the GNU General Public License for programming in Pascal (programming language), Pascal and Object Pascal. It supports an ancient version of the Free P ...

is a graphical IDE that supports GNU Pascal.

External links

Git repo
of one of the GPC developers.
The GNU Pascal (GPC) website

Standard Pascal
– Resources and history of original, standard Pascal

– An early Pascal history resource containing 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

Notes

Free software Pascal (programming language) compilers Pascal programming language family Procedural programming languages Statically typed programming languages Structured programming languages {{compu-prog-stub