Earlier versions of this program (called, variously, Lightspeed Pascal and Think’s Lightspeed Pascal) were already outstanding products, noted for fast compilation speed and a slick Project facility. Because Pascal is a natural choice for a Macintosh programming language (it was the best-supported language for the Lisa before the Mac), much commercial software is developed in Pascal, unlike in the UNIX or DOS-based markets, where the triumph of C is nearly complete. This newest version of Think Pascal assures a continuing bright future for Pascal on the Mac. Besides modest improvements in compiling speed, improved debugging, and better compatibility with Apple’s programming products, Think Pascal 3.0 is the first Mac product to offer a reasonably priced introduction to object-oriented Pascal programming.
A Trip to the Library
The motivation in object-oriented programming (OOP) is the logical reluctance to reinvent the wheel (for more information about OOP, see “Object-Oriented Programming,” Macworld, January 1990). In Mac programming, for instance, a prime example of a wheel is the resizable window with scroll bars, found in most applications. Although to end users such a window is so commonplace as to be nearly boring, it’s far from boring — a challenge, in fact — to construct one in an application from basic ROM toolbox calls in standard Pascal or C. In OOP, there is a class library that performs that very task. A class library serves as a sort of software supertoolbox, with each class capable of performing a specific programming task. In Think Pascal, the classes in the library are devoted mostly to handling Mac interface tasks (establishing menus, putting buttons and picture fields on screen, manipulating files), and the classes are actually very easy to find and use.
This is not a trivial point. There are many ways to partition software tasks and define classes, and Think Pascal has chosen to employ smaller classes, expecting that these will be easier for object-oriented-programming newcomers to master. Given that the entire universe of really experienced OOP programmers consists of a few thousand people — Smalltalk pioneers from Xerox, C++ gurus at Bell Labs and elsewhere, and MacApp hotshots — most of the market for this product may be safely supposed to consist of newcomers. One spectacular feature that will bring these people up to speed quickly is the Class Browser, a facility for rapid inspection of classes and their relationships, and the methods that operate on these classes (see “Class Act”). With the Class Browser you can easily poke around in the library investigating classes and their functions; it’s remarkable to find this level of OOP convenience in what’s basically a modified procedural language (as opposed to a real, from-the-ground-up OOP language such as Smalltalk). Click on a class, hold down the mouse button, and see the methods that operate on that class.
It's not only convenient but also necessarily that you should have this kind of easy access to the Think Class Library, for the slightly unpleasant reason that you will be largely self-taught in Pascal OOP. The Think Pascal OOP manual devotes a bare 44 pages to an introduction to this nonobvious topic before proceeding to a swift and plain description of the elements of the library, and there is not yet a third-party book available about this specific product version.
MacApplications
This, however, won’t discourage one set of users: experienced MacApp developers who are looking for a snappier programming environment. Think Pascal provides a source-code converter so that files for MacApp, the original MPW generic application framework, can be used inside Symantec’s program. The old MPW resource tools Rez, DeRez, and PostRez now appear inside Think (as SARez, SADeRez, and SAPostRez), and seed projects are provided to get your MacApp-based application up and running inside the Think Pascal environment. As a further concession to MPW traditions, Think Pascal can be set to detect Projector resources; this lets Think Pascal Programmers work with groups using the superior source-code-control facility Projector. Since the compile-and-link cycle in Think is two to four times faster than MPW’s, Symantec has made it possible for programmer who already have Apple’s advanced tools for OOP programming (you have to buy MacApp separately from Apple) on the Macintosh to get really valuable improvements in project turnaround time.
Seiter, Charles. (November 1990). Think Pascal 3.0. Macworld. (pg. 236).
Symantec Corporation
Applications
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THINK_Pascal_3.zip
Emulating this? It could probably run under: 
Basilisk II
