Ask HN: Is it just an accident that Pascal can be compiled extremely fast?

Re:Ask HN: Is it just an accident that Pascal can be compile... by AnimalMuppet on Monday January 23, 2023 @03:58PM (#34494949)

Pascal - the original Pascal, since in a comment you seem to dislike Turbo Pascal - was designed for a one-pass compiler. Things were laid out to make things very easy for that one-pass compiler - everything defined before its use, no back-tracking necessary. Also the grammar was very simple. And the compiler attempted very few (if any) optimizations compared to current compilers.

In short, the language design meant that the compiler didn't have to do much, so what it did, it could do quickly.

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Re:Ask HN: Is it just an accident that Pascal can be compile... by davidhbolton on Wednesday January 25, 2023 @03:15PM (#34523555)

I learnt original Pascal at University in 1979 (Queen's University Belfast). It was very spartan compared to what Turbo Pascal would later add. Strings were a type alfa and were ten characters long.

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