Berkeley Pascal is designed for interactive instructional use and runs on the PDP 11 family of computers. It produces interpretive code, providing fast translation at the expense of slower execution speed. An execution profiler and Wirth's cross reference program are also available with the system.

The system supports full Pascal, with the exception of procedure and function names as parameters. The language accepted is very close to `standard' Pascal, with only a small number of extensions.

The User's Manual gives a list of sources relating to the UNIX* system, the Pascal language, and the Berkeley Pascal system. Basic usage examples are provided for the Pascal interpreter components pi, px, pix, and pxp. Errors commonly encountered in these programs are discussed. Details are given of special considerations due to the interactive implementation. A number of examples are provided including many dealing with input/output. An appendix supplements Wirth's Pascal Report to form the full definition of the Berkeley implementation of the language.

Table of Contents

• Front Page


• 1. Sources of information
  • 1.1. Where to get documentation
  • 1.2. Computer Center short courses
  • 1.3. Documentation describing UNIX
  • 1.4. Text editing documents
  • 1.5. Pascal documents - The language
  • 1.6. Pascal documents - The Berkeley Implementation
  • 1.7. References


• 2. Basic UNIX Pascal
  • 2.1. A first program
  • 2.2. A larger program
  • 2.3. Correcting the first errors
  • 2.4. Executing the second example
  • 2.5. Formatting the program listing
  • 2.6. Execution profiling


• 3. Error diagnostics
  • 3.1. Translator syntax errors
  • 3.2. Translator semantic errors
  • 3.3. Translator panics, i/o errors
  • 3.4. Run-time errors


• 4. Input/output
  • 4.1 Introduction
  • 4.2 Eof and eoln
  • 4.3 More about eoln
  • 4.4 Output buffering
  • 4.5 Files, reset, and rewrite
  • 4.6 Argc and argv


• 5. Details on the components of the system
  • 5.1. Options
  • 5.2. Pi (and pix)
  • 5.3. Px
  • 5.4. Pxp
  • 5.5. Formatting programs using pxp
  • 5.6. Pcc and carriage control
  • 5.7. Pxref
  • 5.8. Pascals
  • 5.9. Multi-file programs


• A. Appendix to Wirth's Pascal Report
  • A.1. Extensions to the language Pascal
  • A.2. Resolution of the undefined specifications
  • A.3. Restrictions and limitations
  • A.4. Added types, operators, procedures and functions
  • A.5. Remarks on standard and portable Pascal