This post ends thirty days of blog posts in celebration of Turbo Pascal Version 1.0's 25th anniversary.  I've tried to post a selection of memories and technical details but I knew I would not be able to tell the whole story in just one month.  I will continue to collect the historical documents and memories and post them periodically in my blog.  So keep sending in those stories and technical tidbits. Here are a few additional memories from community members about Turbo Pascal.  While they a...

From: Larry O'Brien - knowing.net Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 11:21 AM Subject: Re: Turbo Pascal version 1.0 anniversary... [David I. note: Larry O'Brien is a professional writer and software developer who lives on the Kona side of the Big Island of Hawaii. Larry has been Product Review Editor for the magazines Computer Language and AI Expert, Editor-in-Chief of Computer Language and AI Expert, founding editor of Software Development magazine and Game Developer magazine, and Editorial ...

From the Turbo Pascal manual: The following diagrams illustrate the contents of memory at different stages of working with the TURBO system. Compilation in Memory - During compulation of a program in memory, the memory is mapped as follows: 0000   CP/M and run-time workspace   Pascal Library   Turbo interface, editor, and compiler   Error Messages (optional - when you start TURBO.COM it asks whether you want to load them or not)   Source text   Object code - growing upward ...

From: J.D. Hildebrand - hildebrand.com Sent: November 3, 2008 Subject: Turbo Pascal [ David I. Note: J.D. Hildebrand has been an award-winning magazine editor, a self-taught programmer, and a mediocre jazz musician. J.D. has done a fair bit of writing, including the Open Source Watch column from SD Times, and many contributions to the Borland (CodeGear) Developer Network. J.D.'s contributions to computer journalism seemed important at the time. He edited Computer Language, Portable 100, Pro...

From: Gerold Martens Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2005 9:59 PM Subject: Pascal/Delphi Story [ David I. note - this story dates back to an email I received in 2005 as part of the Delphi 10 year celebration. It also has memories of Turbo Pascal version 1.0 at the start. ] A long, long time ago, in 1983 I bought my first Z-80 home computer with 8 K of memory and felt really excited. Soon I started writing some code using GW Basic to write my first small programs but there was not enough mem...

Several different community members and industry luminaries have posted blog articles with memories of Turbo Pascal version 1.0. Here are just a few of the blog posts with the person, link to the blog, and an excerpt from their posts. Huw Collingbourne - Editor of Bitwise Magazine, UK http://www.bitwisemag.com/2/Turbo-Pascal-Quarter-of-a-Century "CodeGear’s David Intersimone wrote to me today to remind me of a very important anniversary - 25 years since Turbo Pascal 1.0 shipped! If that had...

If you try the Randomize procedure in Turbo Pascal version 1.0, you will notice that it doesn't do anything at all.  The original manual says it will re-seed the random number generator function so that it doesn't start with the same random numbers each time. In the Turbo Tutor version 1 book, section 20.1, there is a replacement for the Randomize procedure.  Here is the text from the chapter about MS-DOS Routines and DOS function calls: 20.1 RANDOMIZE (RANDOM.PAS) We'll start with fixi...

Here are a few of the frequently asked questions about Turbo Pascal.  These questions are taken from the Turbo Pascal manual, Turbo Tutor book, from the Internet, and also from my (not-so-complete) memory. Q: Who were the developers who originally worked on the Turbo Pascal version 1.0 software, manuals, and examples? A: Anders Hejlsberg (compiler, runtime library), Ole Paulsen (Wordstar-like editor), Mogens Glad (memory management and integration of the editor, runtime, and compiler), Lars Fri...

From: Jeff Duntemann - duntemann.com Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 8:02 AM Subject: Turbo Pascal v1 25th anniversary... [ David I. note: Jeff Duntemann is a self described "writer, editor, technologist, and contrarian".  He is the author (and co-author) of many programming books.  And,  for a time, was a Borland employee as the editor-in-chief of Turbo Technix Magazine. ] Turbo Pascal, for me, was instant lust. It wasn’t solely the language; at the time I discovered it I had programmed...

From: Neil Rubenking - ziffdavis.com Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 9:14 AM Subject: Turbo Pascal version 1.0 [ David I note:  Neil Rubenking is an writer for PC Magazine covering programming, tools, and solutions to problems.  He is the author of seven books on DOS, Windows, and Pascal/Delphi programming, including Delphi Programming for Dummies. ] When I discovered Turbo Pascal in I-think 1983 I was in "starving student" mode. Even scraping up $49.95 was tough, but $500 for IBM's Pa...