.PAS File Extension
Pascal Source File
| Developer | Niklaus Wirth |
| Popularity |
3.7 | 40 Votes |
A PAS file contains source code written in Pascal or Object Pascal, two general-purpose high-level programming languages. It stores plain text in the Pascal or Object Pascal syntax that can be edited or compiled into a program with a Pascal compiler.
More Information
Niklaus Wirth designed the Pascal programming language and initially released it in 1970. The language is based on the ALGOL 60 language and is named after Blaise Pascal, a French philosopher, physicist, and mathematician.
Pascal grew in popularity in the 1970s, especially in the minicomputer sector, and eventually birthed Object Pascal in 1985. Object Pascal was primarily used by Borland and Apple in the 1980s, then grew into Delphi for Windows.
How to open a PAS file
You can open, edit, and compile PAS files with Free Pascal (multiplatform), an open-source program used to compile various Pascal dialects.
Or, you can use source code editors to open and edit PAS files. Some editors include Microsoft Visual Studio Code (multiplatform), Xidicone Zeus (Windows), and MacroMates TextMate (macOS).
You can also use a plain text editor to open and edit PAS files since they are saved in plain text. However, text editors do not come with syntax-highlighting capabilities or other helpful functionality like source code editors.