Good online resource to learn pascal?

[TBMan]

My granddaughter's fiancée is interested in learning. I can't go over to their apartment because they have cats and my wife is very allergic. 

I sent him a link to  https://www.tutorialspoint.com/pascal/pascal_program_structure.htm thinking this looked good, but besides setting him up with Lazarus and throwing him to the wolves, I was wondering if there is an online compiler that is good for beginners. I am going to help him of course, but nothing is better than trying to figure things out at 3:00am on a Saturday morning, 

[440bx]

I'm going to offer something that is not quite what you asked for but, I believe would be very helpful to anyone wanting to learn Pascal.

Most (probably all) of the tutorials I've seen simply expose the language features and not much more than that.  IOW, they rarely show how to use Pascal's features to design a better solution to a problem (better than what could be done with another language that doesn't have the features.)

Personally, for anyone who wants to learn Pascal, I strongly recommend the book "Oh Pascal" by Doug Cooper.  It is a really old book but, it teaches Pascal and it teaches _programming_.  It doesn't matter if someone knows Pascal, C, C++, PL/1, some other language or all of them, if they don't understand how to program,  they won't be very good, they'll create code they will not be proud of and the whole thing won't be a source of satisfaction (which it should be, if it isn't, the individual should be doing something else.)

It would be very easy to use Lazarus and FPC to follow "Oh Pascal".  There is a version of the book that is "Oh Turbo Pascal" which would make it a cinch to follow with Lazarus and FPC.

I suggest the online stuff should be used mostly to supplement what he has learned in a good book/textbook such as the one above.

Lastly a comment most won't appreciate.  A prospective programmer should be exposed to traditional procedural programming before being exposed (and mentally damaged) by the object oriented fad that has taken over. 

HTH.

[TBMan]

I'm going to offer something that is not quite what you asked for but, I believe would be very helpful to anyone wanting to learn Pascal.

Most (probably all) of the tutorials I've seen simply expose the language features and not much more than that.  IOW, they rarely show how to use Pascal's features to design a better solution to a problem (better than what could be done with another language that doesn't have the features.)

Personally, for anyone who wants to learn Pascal, I strongly recommend the book "Oh Pascal" by Doug Cooper.  It is a really old book but, it teaches Pascal and it teaches _programming_.  It doesn't matter if someone knows Pascal, C, C++, PL/1, some other language or all of them, if they don't understand how to program,  they won't be very good, they'll create code they will not be proud of and the whole thing won't be a source of satisfaction (which it should be, if it isn't, the individual should be doing something else.)

It would be very easy to use Lazarus and FPC to follow "Oh Pascal".  There is a version of the book that is "Oh Turbo Pascal" which would make it a cinch to follow with Lazarus and FPC.

I suggest the online stuff should be used mostly to supplement what he has learned in a good book/textbook such as the one above.

Lastly a comment most won't appreciate.  A prospective programmer should be exposed to traditional procedural programming before being exposed (and mentally damaged) by the object oriented fad that has taken over. 

HTH.

Thanks, I'll send him the book suggestion. I agree with your OOP comment. Objects should be learned later on when they can appreciate its use.

[cdbc]

Hi TBMan
While you're at it, have him look at this too: http://www.copperwood.com/pub/FreePascalFromSquareOne.pdf
That is a very good beginners book and even better, the author is a member on this forum - Jeff Duntemann
Regards Benny

[VisualLab]

Lastly a comment most won't appreciate.  A prospective programmer should be exposed to traditional procedural programming before being exposed (and mentally damaged) by the object oriented fad that has taken over. 

You're right about people starting to learn programming. Absolute beginners should start with the simplest things. Object-oriented programming is too difficult and too complex to start learning programming with. Besides, pure object-oriented programming has a lot of disadvantages compared to hybrid (procedural-object) solutions. Only after you have a decent grasp of the basics of procedural programming can you think about learning object-oriented programming. I myself started with procedural programming a long time ago.

P.S. I don't know about others, but I use OOP not because of fashion.

[TBMan]

Hi TBMan
While you're at it, have him look at this too: http://www.copperwood.com/pub/FreePascalFromSquareOne.pdf
That is a very good beginners book and even better, the author is a member on this forum - Jeff Duntemann
Regards Benny

Thanks I'll send it to him. The author sounds familiar. Was he affiliated with Dr. Dobb's Journal or PC Magazine?

[TBMan]

Lastly a comment most won't appreciate.  A prospective programmer should be exposed to traditional procedural programming before being exposed (and mentally damaged) by the object oriented fad that has taken over. 

You're right about people starting to learn programming. Absolute beginners should start with the simplest things. Object-oriented programming is too difficult and too complex to start learning programming with. Besides, pure object-oriented programming has a lot of disadvantages compared to hybrid (procedural-object) solutions. Only after you have a decent grasp of the basics of procedural programming can you think about learning object-oriented programming. I myself started with procedural programming a long time ago.

P.S. I don't know about others, but I use OOP not because of fashion.

I'm really tempted to give him a link to...

10 CLS
20 Print "Hello world"
30 END

 

And then let procedures save him.

[Weiss]

I suggest sending them a link to a book available in their nearest library.

Also, I think there is better studying material on Pascal implementation in Delphi, than bare Pascal. IDEs, like Delphi or Lazarus both need learning, and I find that Delphi books gently cover available tools, while step by step introducing programming language itself. If they learn in Delphi, they will automatically be at home in Lazarus.

tutorials point is a good online source, but I remember digging into it in parallel to learning from other sources.

my 2c

[silvercoder70]

Hi TBMan
While you're at it, have him look at this too: http://www.copperwood.com/pub/FreePascalFromSquareOne.pdf
That is a very good beginners book and even better, the author is a member on this forum - Jeff Duntemann
Regards Benny

Unless it's somebody else with the same name (?) then I would expect it to be the same person. In the 90s and early 2000s I would get DDJ. His and Al Steven's articles were my favourites.

[Sukuna]

I'm going to offer something that is not quite what you asked for but, I believe would be very helpful to anyone wanting to learn Pascal.

Most (probably all) of the tutorials I've seen simply expose the language features and not much more than that.  IOW, they rarely show how to use Pascal's features to design a better solution to a problem (better than what could be done with another language that doesn't have the features.)

Personally, for anyone who wants to learn Pascal, I strongly recommend the book "Oh Pascal" by Doug Cooper.  It is a really old book but, it teaches Pascal and it teaches _programming_.  It doesn't matter if someone knows Pascal, C, C++, PL/1, some other language or all of them, if they don't understand how to program,  they won't be very good, they'll create code they will not be proud of and the whole thing won't be a source of satisfaction (which it should be, if it isn't, the individual should be doing something else.)

It would be very easy to use Lazarus and FPC to follow "Oh Pascal".  There is a version of the book that is "Oh Turbo Pascal" which would make it a cinch to follow with Lazarus and FPC.

I suggest the online stuff should be used mostly to supplement what he has learned in a good book/textbook such as the one above.

Lastly a comment most won't appreciate.  A prospective programmer should be exposed to traditional procedural programming before being exposed (and mentally damaged) by the object oriented fad that has taken over. 

HTH.

Any other free options for books?

[cdbc]

Hi
Michalis Kamburelis has written an introduction to 'Modern Pascal', which is really good.
You can find it HERE.
Regards Benny

[JanRoza]

Also handy as a language reference is https://www.delphibasics.co.uk/

[simone]

I'm going to offer something that is not quite what you asked for but, I believe would be very helpful to anyone wanting to learn Pascal.

Most (probably all) of the tutorials I've seen simply expose the language features and not much more than that.  IOW, they rarely show how to use Pascal's features to design a better solution to a problem (better than what could be done with another language that doesn't have the features.)

Personally, for anyone who wants to learn Pascal, I strongly recommend the book "Oh Pascal" by Doug Cooper.  It is a really old book but, it teaches Pascal and it teaches _programming_.  It doesn't matter if someone knows Pascal, C, C++, PL/1, some other language or all of them, if they don't understand how to program,  they won't be very good, they'll create code they will not be proud of and the whole thing won't be a source of satisfaction (which it should be, if it isn't, the individual should be doing something else.)

It would be very easy to use Lazarus and FPC to follow "Oh Pascal".  There is a version of the book that is "Oh Turbo Pascal" which would make it a cinch to follow with Lazarus and FPC.

I suggest the online stuff should be used mostly to supplement what he has learned in a good book/textbook such as the one above.

Lastly a comment most won't appreciate.  A prospective programmer should be exposed to traditional procedural programming before being exposed (and mentally damaged) by the object oriented fad that has taken over. 

HTH.

Any other free options for books?

Object Pascal Handbook - Marco Cantu:
https://lp.embarcadero.com/ObjectPascalHandbookD11?utm_source=ebook_page&utm_medium=embt-website&utm_capmaign=ObjectPascalHandbook

[ikel]

My granddaughter's fiancée is interested in learning. I can't go over to their apartment because they have cats and my wife is very allergic. 

I sent him a link to  https://www.tutorialspoint.com/pascal/pascal_program_structure.htm thinking this looked good, but besides setting him up with Lazarus and throwing him to the wolves, I was wondering if there is an online compiler that is good for beginners. I am going to help him of course, but nothing is better than trying to figure things out at 3:00am on a Saturday morning, 

Hi there,

What about this resource?

https://ikelaiah.github.io/free-pascal-cookbook/.

-ikel

[Thaddy]

Hi
Michalis Kamburelis has written an introduction to 'Modern Pascal', which is really good.
You can find it HERE.
Regards Benny

Also very good, with one exception: the part about interfaces should be skipped. It is plain wrong: favoring CORBA over COM is wrong and he insufficiently explains the advantages of COM interfaces over CORBA. He has a "dissenting" opinion that might get people wrong-footed, it is certainly not mainstream.
(I tried to explain to him his wayward opinions)
The rest of the book is very good, though.