Mac Pascal

This article applies to Mac OS Classic only.

See also: Multiplatform Programming Guide

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Mac Pascal is a designation that was retrospectively assigned to Apple's Object Pascal.

Based on earlier foundations laid with Lisa Pascal and Clascal a development team at Apple Computer led by Larry Tesler developed an object-oriented version of the Pascal language in consultation with Niklaus Wirth. The first version of this dialect, termed Object Pascal, was released in 1985.

Within short time Object Pascal became the premier development language for Mac OS Classic. Apple's Object Pascal syntax was also adopted by alternative IDEs for the Macintosh platform including THINK Pascal and Metrowerks Pascal. In 1989 concepts of Object Pascal were included in version 5.5 of Turbo Pascal.

Since then, Object Pascal is a generic term for modern Pascal implementations allowing for OOP, and Apple's original implementation has been termed Mac Pascal.

Mac Pascal support in Free Pascal

Today, the Mac Pascal syntax is still supported by Free Pascal if the MACPAS mode is activated. This may be e.g. required if one wants to develop FPC programs for Target MacOS and incorporate legacy code.