PascalABC.NET for Visual Studio Code

The official Visual Studio Code extension for writing, compiling, and running PascalABC.NET programs.

About PascalABC.NET

PascalABC.NET is a modern Pascal programming language that combines the simplicity and clarity of classic Pascal with contemporary language features and the capabilities of the Microsoft .NET platform.

It supports procedural, object-oriented, and functional programming styles, making it well suited for teaching modern programming—from a beginner's first programs to university-level courses. Its concise and readable syntax helps students focus on algorithms, problem solving, and software design.

PascalABC.NET is also a practical tool for console applications, educational and scientific projects, and general-purpose programming. It is free software distributed under the GNU LGPLv3 license.

Extension Features

• PascalABC.NET syntax highlighting and language configuration
• snippets for common language constructs
• completion for commonly used standard functions and collection types
• compilation diagnostics in the editor
• compile current file with Ctrl+F9
• compile and run with F9
• execution in an integrated terminal with console input support
• commands for restarting the compiler process and showing its output

Getting Started

1. Create a file using File → New File → PascalABC.NET File, or open an existing .pas file.
2. Press F9 to compile and run it.
3. Use the integrated terminal for console input and program output.

Compiler errors are displayed directly in the editor. Ctrl+F9 compiles the current file without running it.

Platform Support

This preview currently supports Windows. The compiler runtime required for ordinary PascalABC.NET programs is bundled with the extension, so a separate installation is not required for the basic compile-and-run workflow.

Some optional modules depend on components normally installed with the full PascalABC.NET distribution. For example, Graph3D expects HelixToolkit and NUnitABC expects NUnit.

Development

Clone the repository together with its submodule:

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/pascalabcnet/pascalabcnet_vscode.git

For an existing clone, initialize or update the pinned submodule with:

git submodule update --init --recursive

Install the Node.js dependencies and compile the TypeScript extension:

npm install
npm run compile

Open the repository in Visual Studio Code and press F5 to launch an Extension Development Host window.

Preparing the runtime requires the .NET SDK used by the pinned PascalABC.NET sources. Build a clean runtime from the submodule with:

.\scripts\build-runtime.ps1

From Command Prompt (cmd.exe), use the wrapper:

scripts\build-runtime.cmd

The script builds the compiler solution, rebuilds the standard PCU modules, builds the controller and worker, then stages and validates the new runtime before atomically replacing the generated bin/ directory. A different PascalABC.NET source checkout can be selected with -PascalABCSourcePath.

To prepare the runtime, restore Node.js dependencies, compile TypeScript, and package the complete VSIX in one step from Command Prompt, run:

scripts\build-vsix.cmd

The resulting file is named from the extension version in package.json, for example pascalabc-net-0.1.0.vsix.

Building a VSIX

Before packaging, make sure that bin/ contains the complete compiler runtime required by the extension. Then run:

npm install
npm run compile
npx --yes @vscode/vsce package

The generated .vsix file is ignored by Git.

To install it locally:

code --install-extension .\pascalabc-net-0.1.0.vsix

Commands

The keyboard shortcuts are active only for files with the pascalabc language identifier.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0. See LICENSE.