Who Invented Pascal? History of the Pascal Programming Language

The Origins of the Pascal Programming Language

The Pascal programming language, stemming from the ALGOL computer language, emerged in the late 1960s. It was named in honor of Blaise Pascal, a 17th-century French mathematician renowned for his inventions and discoveries, including the Pascaline – an early mechanical calculator created in 1645.

Given that Blaise Pascal passed away in 1662, it’s logically impossible for him to have authored the programming language bearing his name. The question then arises: who was responsible for the creation of Pascal?

Niklaus Wirth: The Creator of Pascal

Pascal was developed by Niklaus Wirth, born on February 15, 1934, in Winterthur, Switzerland. His parents were Walter Wirth, a geography professor, and Hedwig (Keller) Wirth.

Wirth initially developed Algol-W, which was implemented on an early IBM 360 – a computer system that occupied an entire room. This served as the foundation for the subsequent development of the Pascal language a few years later.

Credit: IBM 360

Wirth famously observed a discrepancy in how his name was pronounced. He noted, "Whereas Europeans generally pronounce my name the right way ('Nick-louse Veert'), Americans invariably mangle it into 'Nickel's Worth.' This is to say that Europeans call me by name, but Americans call me by value."

Pascal's Purpose and Applications

Wirth designed Pascal as a language suitable for teaching fundamental programming concepts. It was intended to function reliably and efficiently on the computers available during the 1970s.

The language found applications in diverse areas, including computer games, embedded systems, and research projects. Furthermore, it played a role in the development of the Lisa computer, an early Apple (Macintosh) model. A derivative, Object Pascal, remains in use today, notably in applications like Skype.

Wirth's Recognition and Philosophy

Niklaus Wirth is the author of influential books, such as "Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs" (1976). He received ten honorary doctorates and prestigious awards, including the IEEE Emmanuel Piore Prize and the Turing Prize in 1984.

However, Wirth’s most significant contribution lies in his advocacy for creating productive software that is well-organized and devoid of unnecessary complexity.

"A Plea for Lean Software" and Wirth's Laws

In his 1995 article, "A Plea for Lean Software" [PDF], Wirth discussed challenges in software development and emphasized the importance of clean, organized code. He articulated two "laws" that he believed reflected industry trends:

• Software expands to consume all available memory. (Parkinson)
• Software performance degrades more rapidly than hardware improves. (Reiser)

These observations are particularly relevant given the increasing size of codebases in modern software.

The Growth of Code Size: Examples

Consider the following examples illustrating the growth in lines of code:

• Basic: 4,000 lines of code in 1975, now exceeding 2 million.
• The initial version of Word: 27,000 lines of code, compared to over 30 million in the current Office suite.
• Mac OS X: Approximately 90 million lines of code.
• Windows 95: 15 million lines of code, while Windows 7 contains over 50 million.
• An iPhone game application, such as "Unreal," boasts over 2 million lines of code.

Wirth's Views on Software Development

Wirth argued that software bloat occurs because vendors add features that customers believe they desire, but ultimately do not utilize. He also maintained that software should be fully comprehensible to at least one individual.

He believed that development teams creating programs without complete understanding contribute to unnecessary complexity and inefficient code.

The creation of Pascal exemplified these principles. It remains recognized as one of the most mathematically-oriented computer languages, prioritizing essential features, object-oriented programming, and a simple, easily understood core.

Were you aware of the history of Pascal?