The Atari Pascal Language System (usually shortened to Atari Pascal) is a version of the
Pascal programming language released by
Atari, Inc. for the
Atari 8-bit computers
The Atari 8-bit computers, formally launched as the Atari Home Computer System, are a series of home computers introduced by Atari, Inc., in 1979 with the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The architecture is designed around the 8-bit MOS Technology 650 ...
in March 1982.
Atari Pascal was published through the
Atari Program Exchange
Atari Program Exchange (APX) was a division of Atari, Inc. that sold software via mail-order for Atari 8-bit computers from 1981 until 1984. Quarterly APX catalogs were sent to all registered Atari 8-bit owners. APX encouraged any programmer, not ...
as unsupported software instead of in Atari's official product line.
It requires two disk drives, which greatly limited its potential audience. It includes a 161-page manual.
Development
Atari Pascal was developed by MT Microsystems, which was owned by
Digital Research
Digital Research, Inc. (DR or DRI) was a privately held American software company created by Gary Kildall to market and develop his CP/M operating system and related 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit systems like MP/M, Concurrent DOS, FlexOS, Multiuser ...
. It's similar to MT/PASCAL+ from the same company.
The compiler produces code for a virtual machine, as with
UCSD Pascal
UCSD Pascal is a Pascal programming language system that runs on the UCSD p-System, a portable, highly machine-independent operating system. UCSD Pascal was first released in 1977. It was developed at the University of California, San Diego (UC ...
, instead of generating machine code, but the resulting programs are as much as seven times faster than
Apple Pascal
Apple Pascal is an implementation of Pascal for the Apple II and Apple III computer series, based on UCSD Pascal.
Just like other UCSD Pascal implementations, it ran on its own operating system (''Apple Pascal Operating System'', a derivative of ...
.
MT Microsystems wrote Atari Pascal with a planned "super Atari" 8-bit model in mind, one with 128K of RAM and dual-floppy drives (similar to a common configuration of the 1983
Apple IIe
The Apple IIe (styled as Apple //e) is the third model in the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Inc., Apple Computer. It was released in January 1983 as the successor to the Apple II Plus. The ''e'' in the name stands for ...
).
[ This machine never materialized, but the software was released because of pressure within Atari, though only through the Atari Program Exchange.
Atari's 1980 in-store demonstration program mentions Pascal as one of the available programming languages, despite Atari Pascal not being released until 1982.
]
Other Pascal implementations
Draper Pascal for the Atari 8-bit computers was released in 1983, Kyan Pascal in 1986, and CLSN Pascal in 1989.
References
1982 software
Atari 8-bit computer software
Pascal (programming language) compilers
Atari Program Exchange software
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