Ways to get people (future engineers) started with Free Pascal

[Paul Breneman]

It looks like there are only few people involved with electronics in addition to programming, who also happen to use Pascal as their programming language; although, as community, we have people who are very skilled and highly experienced, to me it looks there are very few of us into this stuff really. I also wouldn't be surprised if there are no young people trying "embedded" target in Pascal at all - I don't know anyone working in this area who is not 30+. We're getting old...

There seems to be more "embedded" talk on the mailing lists.  Especially the last paragraph of this message!
http://lists.freepascal.org/pipermail/fpc-devel/2015-December/036441.html

I posted a new message on three engineering sites today.  You could probably help (some youngsters) to investigate Free Pascal by doing similar things.     Maybe we could work together?  Suggestions are appreciated!

There are many new things (Teensy, a powerful IDE released today) mentioned here:
http://www.controlpascal.com/tutorial.htm

I don't know what's wrong with that "ControlPascal" web site, but I could never access it. It always times out in the browser. I could only see it when using proxy located in EU. I wonder if it is blocked, maybe for North/Central America? (I'm located in Mexico)

If you find it blocked again could you also try this site (http://brenemanlabs.com/) and let me know if it is also blocked?  They are on the same (North American) server.

[DonAlfredo]

@ykot
I am a hardware designer (Microchip PIC24/32) and a Pascal programmer. For many years now.
But, due to the availability of libraries, I am stuck to using C for the embedded processors.
E.g. for Microchip, it would be a lot of work to port the USB HID and TCP/IP stacks to Pascal.

The lack of libraries for Pascal is the main reason why people are bound to the native platform tools.
Look at the ESP8266. Such a nice chip for IoT. Would be very nice if we were able to program it in Pascal.

OTOH, we now have the Pi Zero.
And a very nice library http://www.afterwarp.net/products/pxl ... thanks !
For me, this is all I need for the more advanced projects. Linux + cheap +low power + Pascal.

In general, I think the lack of knowledge is the main reason why Pascal is underrated.

Everytime, when I show people the FPC/Lazarus combo, the are amazed !!
It runs on Mac, Linux (RPi[0,1,2], Win. Lazarus is true RAD. Youngsters do realy like it.
And then they ask: can I also make an app the RAD way for my phone to impress my friends
 ....
(it would be so nice if http://smartmobilestudio.com/ would be open source)
....

I will remain an advocate of Pascal ! And for sure a huge fan of FPC / Lazarus !!

[avra]

I am a hardware designer (Microchip PIC24/32) and a Pascal programmer. For many years now.
But, due to the availability of libraries, I am stuck to using C for the embedded processors.
E.g. for Microchip, it would be a lot of work to port the USB HID and TCP/IP stacks to Pascal.

Take a look at mikroPascal for many targets (PIC, AVR, ARM, 8051 and FT90x). It's really nice.
http://www.mikroe.com/mikropascal

My favorite is E-Lab AvrCo Multitasking Pascal because of it's powerful ICE debugger, simulator and tons of libraries, but it's not cheap.
http://www.e-lab.de/AVRco/index_en.html

I also admit that for many complex systems in my work embedded linux is replacing embedded microcontrollers. That's where FPC fits, although I probably still have more work in embedded C then in embedded pascal. The only reason for this besides a missing lib is when client insists on using C, but it's still a major reason...

[marcov]

  TCP/IP stacks to Pascal.

That depends what you need it for. I reduced the microchip TCP/IP lib to a few thousand lines for use
with Wiznet 5500. On one hand only basic UDP operation, on the other hand fully async (spi enhanced buffer mode and DMA)

[Paul Breneman]

Yes, I know that this is an old message thread, but it has a lot of very interesting comments, so I'm hoping that some of you will also maybe jump into this related message thread and share your comments: http://forum.lazarus.freepascal.org/index.php/topic,23927.msg244535.html#msg244535

[Paul Breneman]

http://controlpascal.com/self-hosted.htm  has link to new wiki page!

[Paul Breneman]

http://controlpascal.com/self-hosted.htm  has link to new wiki page!

Making good progress with Ultibo !  Info here: https://ultibo.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&p=6035#p6035

Feedback is appreciated!

[Paul Breneman]

Making good progress with Ultibo !  Info here: https://ultibo.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&p=6035#p6035

Feedback is appreciated!

Free Pascal Console Programs on Android are Easy (again) https://forum.lazarus.freepascal.org/index.php/topic,23927.msg325336.html#msg325336

We should give the newbies an easy way to use their smartphones!