Pascal: a programming language that conquered the world
In 1970, Professor emeritus Niklaus Wirth designed the programming language Pascal. It became one of the most popular teaching languages and shaped programming languages to come.
After earning his first degree at ETH Zürich in Electronic Engineering in 1959, Niklaus Wirth left to complete his graduate studies in North America. His intention was to go abroad, gain new skills and bring them back home to Switzerland. Little did he know what he would bring back the foundation for the programming language Pascal.
The small, efficient language was intended to encourage good programming practices using structured programming and data structuring. Therefore, it quickly became a popular teaching language. Generations of students at universities all over the world – including those at ETH Zurich – made their first programming experiences with Pascal.
Learn how Pascal came to be and how it influenced future programming languages external pagein this article.