Is knowing Pascal useful?

Question

Pascal

I study at the lyceum and in computer science lessons we are taught such a programming language as Pascal. Of course, the language is ancient, and that's the question - can knowledge of Pascal be useful to me? And if so, how?
PS In my free time, I study C# and Python, the languages ​​that are currently relevant.

Answer 1

Let's decide.
In schools and universities, they do not teach Pascal, but its dialect, Borland / Turbo Pascal or Delphi.
What is learned in Pascal? Yes, basic things: data structures, algorithms (calculations, linear algebra, graphs), working with files. Do you need to know them? Rhetorical question. After all, this is the basis, without which further programming training is useless.
What's wrong with courses in Turbo Pascal (TP)?
Perhaps the fact that TP works in DOS. And this imposes various restrictions on the intended use of programs written in TP. It is possible to run DOS programs in Windows, but, on the other hand, many schools and universities have outdated equipment. In the villages, go, except for the installed DOS, at times, nothing can be launched. Well, maybe sometimes Windows 95/98. And how to teach something modern in such conditions? That is why TP is a good solution. Instead of TP, it would be possible to train in modern Free Pascal.
The worst thing about programs written in TP is that they mix logic and display.
What is MVC, many teachers do not know. And students just need to take the course and forget. For the majority are either lazy or they do not have a decent teacher to make the lesson interesting. And this leaves an imprint on the further attitude towards Pascal, as such. I believe that the Pascal language is the scapegoat in this case, although the language is not at fault here, since the language itself is both simple and, at the same time, effective. Especially when it comes to ease of debugging.
Here are some quotes about learning Pascal:

There is no need to study mathematics either, all sorts of integrals. Who needs them in life?
Better accounting. History, literature - ftopku. It is necessary to learn management, to lead.
Russian language? What for? Once a person can read and write .. and okay. Nakraynyak, if he can't write, but he knows how to sign, it means he's fit to be a boss.

The Pascal language has descendants: Modula-2, Delphi, Component Pascal (formerly Oberon/L), Zonnon, Active Oberon.
The latter, in general, has quite interesting features today, which are worth reading about in the articles
. Oberon is dead, long live Oberon! part I
part II
As a result, everyone decides for himself whether he needs the positive qualities of Pascal or, sometimes, the imaginary power provided by other languages. Some languages ​​need to be dealt with by certain means.
For example, in a series of articles, one of which is Checking Wine: A Year Later

Answer 2

Once upon a time, it was on Pascal that they gave the basics of programming, even in high school and universities. I read monumental works on the question - from what language should I study programming at the university, and surprisingly - many monographs indicate that Pascal should be the first language! So it's good that you are learning Pascal! It won't get any worse. At this stage, the main thing is to understand the meaning and feel the algorithms! Pascal is good for that! And the fact that you are learning both Python and C along the way is even better. Don't stop, everything will work out. The main thing to remember is that you cannot study everything at once, it takes a lot of time to become a pro, which means be patient, study, strive, study, everything will be fine!

Answer 3

The purpose of education in principle is to teach the student to think, to look for solutions to questions. It's not the language that matters, it's the ability to think

Answer 4

Knowledge of a programming language is the same as knowledge of the keyboard or the ability to close program windows using a cross.
There is nothing so smart about it.
It is important to understand algorithms, patterns, and other concepts. And they are language invariant. It is quite possible to study them on the example of Pascal or on the example of Go.
Specifically, Pascal - it belongs to the most common class of programming languages. Having understood the principles of programming in Pascal, you will easily understand the principles of programming in C/C++/JavaScript/Python/PHP/C#/Java/Swift/Ruby/Go/Rust, etc. These languages ​​are very similar.
Moreover, Pascal is a statically typed language with manual memory management, which is useful for learning as the language shows you your mistakes and allows you to understand the concept of memory management.

Answer 5

The language doesn't matter. From my own experience, I can say that a good php programmer will write a program relatively easily on the pluses, with the help of manuals and stackoverflow. As a rule, all languages ​​are very similar, like Russian and Ukrainian - only the words differ, and even then not all. There are exceptions, of course, but they are exceptions.
In other words, it won't be redundant. But not useful either.