Pascal for the TS2068

One of the buzz-words in the programming field these days is “structured programming”. In general, this refers to programming in blocks of code, each a fairly independent unit unto itself. One of the principal languages supporting and encouraging structured code is Pascal.

Pascal was invented by Nicholas Wirth in 1970 and quickly gained acceptance in the academic community as a teaching tool. With the introduction by Borland of the Turbo Pascal package, this popular language proliferated quickly in the mini and home computer markets. Although the Turbo version of Pascal is not available for the Timex/Sinclair family of computers, HISOFT of England has made available a fairly full featured version of Pascal. It represents an excellent value, particularly for those interested in getting more speed out of their 2068 than Timex BASIC can provide. While a detailed look at the Pascal language would take more room than we have here, a few points about the HISOFT package can be noted.

The HISOFT Pascal package consists of a cassette tape containing the compiler/editor program (written in machine code), a basic loader, and (on the flip side of the tape) a Turtle graphics program, an 82 page manual and a 3 page user implementation for the 2068. The package is intended for use on the 2068, thus no Spectrum emulation is necessary. The Standard Pascal “files” function is not supported by the HISOFT package but that is the only difference from the norm. This Pascal is fairly full-featured and in fact includes some useful functions not available with Standard Pascal. Both the 2040 and the Aerco printer interface are supported (although some modifications must be done). Mass storage is on cassette and text files as well data may be stored. Unfortunately, disk-access in unavailable at this time.

HISOFT Pascal, being a compiled language, runs many times faster than interpereted BASIC. In my own experience, I was running a program each day in connection with my job that required a great deal of floating point math. The typical time each day was about 20 minutes. After rewriting the code into Pascal, my work time dropped to around 3 minutes. In fact, if I had a faster printer or a larger buffer, that time would probably be less! One program that I was writing and eventually abandoned as too slow in BASIC (each number produced took about 5 minutes) ran in under 30 seconds in Pascal.

While I can readily recommend HISOFT Pascal to anyone needing more zip than BASIC or anyone wishing to learn strucured programming, I must note some drawbacks. First, unless you are satisfied with cassette storage, HISOFT Pascal can be frustrating: in order to save a program file on disc, the compiler/editor, text and run times must all be saved on disc. This tends to fill discs up quickly. As an example, a program of about 100 lines of code, which ought to take up about 1k, will occupy about 29k when saved. 1 should note that once the final version of a program is written and debugged, the compiler’s “translate,” command can be used to create a more compact file but once done the program cannot be modified.

Second, although I’m not sure, it would seem that HISOFT is either out of business or has withdrawn support for the 2068. My letters have gone unanswered and as a Timexer of many years I have come to understand what that usually means.