Educational Computer Programming For K-12 Students
Pascal was created as a teaching language for programming. Pascal became very popular with Borland’s Turbo Pascal and Delphi brands in the 80’s and 90’s. Delphi, Turbo Pascal’s replacement, is still available for educational and commercial development of Windows programs. However, many educational institutions are still using Turbo Pascal or not teaching programming at all. Teachers should look at a clone of Turbo Pascal/Delphi called Free Pascal with the IDE Lazarus for teaching computer programming.
Free Pascal is capable of using most Turbo Pascal code. With a few exceptions, the code is interchangeable. The Lazarus IDE makes developing GUI (Windows) programs quick and easy for Windows, Mac X, Linux and BSD.
Pascal’s syntax is very eloquent. It is so eloquent that, in many cases, it can be read easily by people who are not programmers or have never seen the language. This makes teaching programming and logic easy compared to other languages. Even if the educational institution does not have a full computer instructor on staff, a teacher who is capable of understanding mathematics and logic can start teaching pascal without much difficulty.
Free Pascal with Lazarus IDE is capable of programming commercial software. Student projects can and have turned into money making operations. Because, Free Pascal can compile for multiple systems. This allows the programmer to code once and have the program operate on the several systems making the program more attractive to users. Even if the programs are not capable of being commercially successful, a nice student project would be to create custom educational programs for other students or students for element and middle schools.
The strongest argument for using Free Pascal is that it can work on just about any computer system and it is free. Windows, Mac X, Linux and BSD computers with work with Free Pascal. This allows the students’ home computers to complete homework assignments without cost. Even if the student does not have a compute Free Pascal can work on very old computers that may be purchased for well under $50. Also, schools and libraries can coordinate to have library computer system include the Free Pascal Compiler and Lazarus. This will allow students who do not have computers to still be able to complete assignments.
Free Pascal Links:
www.schoolfreeware.com/Free_Pascal_Tutorials.html