Pascal Coding Practices

Pascal Coding Practices

Application skill for classic Pascal style learning (from the archived awesome-guidelines style capsules). For Lazarus/LCL or Delphi VCL/Object Pascal, use delphi-coding-practices instead.

Core Principle

Pascal library quality is dialect-picked layout + ordered units, declare FPC-tight or GPC-spaced style once, mirror interface in implementation, compile warning-clean.

When to Use / NOT

• FPC compiler/RTL patches, GNU Pascal (GPC) code, portable .pas libraries without Delphi RTL.
• Setting up fpc -Wall, fpsonar, or project compile checks in CI.

NOT when:

• Lazarus LCL components or Delphi IDE projects, use delphi-coding-practices.
• Generated .pas, validate generators.

Workflow

1. Layout, indent, begin/end, spacing profile (pascal-style-formatting-layout.md).
2. Naming, keywords, T/P types (pascal-style-naming-types.md).
3. Units, files, order, uses (pascal-style-units-structure.md).
4. Comments/control, braces, flow, CI (pascal-style-comments-control.md).
5. Verify, fpc -Wall, fpsonar optional, tests on changed units.

Red Flags

• Tab indentation
• UPPERCASE keywords
• Mixed FPC-tight and GPC-spaced styles in one project
• if x then begin on one line
• Spaces around operators in FPC compiler tree
• Missing space before ( in GPC published calls
• (* *) or // comments in published GPC code
• Function assigns to its name instead of result (FPC)
• Implicit Result variable against GPC rules
• Multiple units per .pas file
• Uppercase filenames
• Missing license/header block (GPC)
• Interface/implementation declaration order mismatch
• Unit cycles in interface uses
• Empty unit begin end.
• Wrong case semicolon in case before else
• Undocumented interface exports (GPC)
• Macros for constants
• goto/Exit for ordinary control flow
• for counter mutation or post-loop reliance
• Commenting out code with { … } instead of {$if False}
• Comments inside compiler directives
• FCL-style non-indented routines in FPC compiler tree (or reverse)

Verification

• fpc -Wall (and project -O3 if GPC baseline) on changed units
• fpsonar or house linter (NoTabs, LowercaseKeywords, BeginEndRequired)
• Uses-cycle and interface-order review on new units
• Capsule checklist on spacing profile declaration in AGENTS/project docs

References

• awesome-guidelines/references/pascal-style-learning-note.md
• awesome-guidelines/references/pascal-style-formatting-layout.md
• awesome-guidelines/references/pascal-style-naming-types.md
• awesome-guidelines/references/pascal-style-units-structure.md
• awesome-guidelines/references/pascal-style-comments-control.md