Free Pascal
Pascal compiler available for windows
Free Pascal (also known as FPK Pascal) is a professional 32x and 64-bit compiler of the Pascal language. The compiler is available for processors: Intel x86, Amd64/x86_64, PowerPC, PowerPC64, Sparc, ARM. Several operating systems are supported: Linux, FreeBSD, Haiku, Mac OS X/Darwin, DOS, Win32, Win64, WinCE, OS/2, Netware (libc and classic) and MorphOS.
The main distinctive feature of this compiler from others is that it is focused on popular dialects of Object Pascal and Delphi language. Several other dialect compatibility modes are also supported: Turbo Pascal, Borland Delphi (supporting classes and interfaces), Mac Pascal, and object-oriented Delphi features.
Free Pascal's main benefit is its robust compatibility, supporting multiple processors, operating systems, and dialects of the Pascal and Delphi languages.
- Architectures: support for PowerPC/64 and ARM;
- platforms: support for Windows x64, Windows CE, Mac OS X/Intel, Game Boy Advance and Game Boy DS;
- language: support for interface delegation, bitpacked records and arrays, COM/OLE variants, dispinterfaces;
- Infrastructure: improved support for variant type, support for multiple resource files, widestrings are now COM/OLE-compatible in Windows, improved database support.
PROS
Offers multi-platform programming, increasing accessibility.
High-speed compilation and execution.
CONS
Not as feature-rich as modern programming languages.
Reduced compatibility with contemporary software.
Sam
Free Pascal is a compiler that supports processor architectures, including Intel x86, SPARC, AMD64/x86 64 PowerPC and PowerPC64. It is compatible, with Turbo Pascal and Delphi dialects. Popular applications such as Lazarus, PeaZip and Double Commander rely on Free Pascals compiler engine because of its reliability and versatility. Although its console-based user interface might seem overwhelming for beginners, its fast compilation speed and optimization capabilities, like registry allocation and stack frame elimination, make it a preferred choice for programmers. Free Pascal includes language features such as procedure and operator overloading, inlining and support for arrays to meet programming needs. Despite being focused on programming language, Free Pascal provides comprehensive documentation suitable for both beginners and experts alike, making it an attractive option for application development. The minor release Free Pascal 3.2.2 primarily emphasizes bug fixes and package updates to ensure stability.
Tue, Jan 30, 2024
