Turbo Pascal
Borland's classic Pascal compiler and integrated development environment for MS-DOS and CP/M.
HN commenters remember it fondly for a super-fast compiler with a built-in debugger and online help,12 and for a rich text-mode windowed UI that inspired business apps.345 The few caveats are that the CP/M version felt cumbersome6 and later versions had to be trimmed to fit on a floppy.7
Why people recommend it
Fond nostalgia · 3
Commenters recall it as great and remember being blown away by it.
“when I discovered TP5 on MS-DOS I was blown away!”
“yet Turbo Pascal was great”
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“it reminds of Turbo Pascal, which was so cool”
Text-mode UI · 3
Its windowed terminal interface and Turbo Vision are held up as better than many modern TUIs.
“Look at the Turbo Pascal IDE and business apps built with it.”
“it reminds of Turbo Pascal, which was so cool”
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“Borland was at its peak, and Turbo Pascal or Turbo C/C++ were used all the time.”
Integrated tooling · 1
An editor with built-in debugger, profiler, online help and a super-fast compiler.
“It was an editor with an awesome built-in debugger, profiler, online help, super fast compiler.”
Student friendly · 3
Favored by hobbyists and students, and carried on floppies to school computer labs.
“I've always preferred tools that were favored by hobbyists and students, including 8-bit BASIC, Turbo Pascal, HyperCard”
“A customised mix of Turbo Pascal and MS-DOS 3.3 could fit in a 3.5 inch high density floppy”
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“The TP versions started with 3.0, up to 6.0, naturally later versions had to be customised to fit into the floppy.”
Compact footprint · 2
It fit alongside MS-DOS 3.3 on a single 1.44 MB floppy.
“A customised mix of Turbo Pascal and MS-DOS 3.3 could fit in a 3.5 inch high density floppy”
“The TP versions started with 3.0, up to 6.0, naturally later versions had to be customised to fit into the floppy.”
Caveats and dissent
CP/M version · 1
Turbo Pascal 3.3 under CP/M was found hard and cumbersome to use.
“when I discovered TP5 on MS-DOS I was blown away!”
Floppy trimming · 1
Later versions had to be customised to fit onto a single floppy.
“The TP versions started with 3.0, up to 6.0, naturally later versions had to be customised to fit into the floppy.”
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- Borland Turbo Basic 2 mentions
- Turbo Pascal on CP/M, MSX-DOS and MS-DOS – Pascal for Small Machines 2 mentions
- Ask HN: How was enterprise software developed in 1980s? 2 mentions
- Ask HN: Why do people say "I built it" when we should say "Claude built it"? 1 mention
- Stop Making TUIs 1 mention
- No Stack Overflow, No Autocomplete: What Coding Felt Like in the 80s 1 mention
Data: turbo-pascal.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 12
“I used Turbo Pascal to build an application that recorded the inspection of Fire Protection Equipment”
“It was an editor with an awesome built-in debugger, profiler, online help, super fast compiler.”
“I graduated quickly from Borland Turbo Basic to Turbo Pascal”
“Look at the Turbo Pascal IDE and business apps built with it.”
“The TP versions started with 3.0, up to 6.0, naturally later versions had to be customised to fit into the floppy.”
“when I discovered TP5 on MS-DOS I was blown away!”
“A customised mix of Turbo Pascal and MS-DOS 3.3 could fit in a 3.5 inch high density floppy”
“it reminds of Turbo Pascal, which was so cool”
“yet Turbo Pascal was great”
“Borland was at its peak, and Turbo Pascal or Turbo C/C++ were used all the time.”
“For me it was Turbo Pascal, Turbo C/C++, regular Borland C++.”
“I've always preferred tools that were favored by hobbyists and students, including 8-bit BASIC, Turbo Pascal, HyperCard”