FreePascal for Low-Level Development: A C/C++ Alternative and Emerging Options

The journey of selecting a suitable language for low-level development often involves navigating a landscape of choices, each with its unique trade-offs. One developer recently shared their experience moving away from C/C++ due to persistent "foot-shooting" incidents, finding Rust too challenging, and Go unsuitable due to its lack of exceptions and classes. Their solution? FreePascal.

Why FreePascal Struck a Chord

For this developer, FreePascal offered a compelling blend of features for low-level work. It provides classes, exception handling, and flexible memory management—supporting both automatic and manual approaches. Its cross-platform capabilities and perceived mental manageability, especially when compared to C++, were key attractions. The ease of string handling in FreePascal was also highlighted as a significant improvement over C/C++.

The Other Side of the Coin: FreePascal's Challenges

Despite its benefits, FreePascal isn't without its criticisms. Concerns were raised about the language's design, particularly the merging of different Pascal concepts (like Delphi), leading to redundant object models. Historical issues inherited from Pascal, such as the dangling else problem, block overhead, and global namespace, were also noted as areas where Wirth's later languages (Modula, Oberon) had made improvements.

From a technical standpoint, the FreePascal compiler itself was described as large and potentially difficult to maintain. Performance benchmarks suggest that optimized x86 code generated by FreePascal achieves approximately 70% of the speed of GCC-compiled C code. Furthermore, specific performance bottlenecks were identified in destructors and some built-in data structures, which were found to be extremely slow. Another practical concern was the quality of documentation, which sometimes lists parameters without adequately explaining their purpose or meaning.

Exploring Alternative Low-Level Languages

The discussion naturally led to a broader exploration of other languages suitable for low-level tasks:

• Ada: Often recommended for developers who appreciate FreePascal, Ada is a robust language renowned for its extremely high control over low-level aspects, making it a staple in embedded systems. It offers high expressivity and excellent performance. While its object-oriented (OO) part is considered "unusual" or "odd" due to being bolted onto existing procedural mechanisms, its non-OO features are exceptional and often sufficient.
• C# with NativeAOT: Proposed as a powerful "2-in-1" language. C# can be leveraged for low-level programming using the NativeAOT compiler, which allows for static linking of native libraries or the creation of native shared libraries (.dll/.dylib/.so) consumable by other languages. This offers a bridge between high-level development and native performance, though its ecosystem is primarily high-level focused.

• Other Emerging Options: Several less mainstream languages were mentioned for those open to exploring beyond the popular choices:

  • Nim: Described as probably the easiest to pick up among this group.
  • Hylo (formerly Val)
  • Vale D
  • Zig

Object-Oriented Paradigms: Go vs. FreePascal

A point of contention for the original poster was Go's lack of traditional classes and exceptions. While Go offers types, methods, and interfaces, which can achieve many OO goals without inheritance, a long-time Java developer found this paradigm shift challenging, indicating a strong mental model tied to class-based systems.

A Nod to History: Pascal in Action

Interestingly, the discussion also highlighted a real-world, albeit niche, application: a retro FPS game engine from 1980s Czechoslovakia, HROT, written in Pascal, showcasing its enduring legacy in certain domains.

Conclusion

The landscape of low-level programming is diverse. While C/C++ remain stalwarts, developers are actively seeking alternatives that offer better safety, improved ergonomics, or a more comfortable feature set. FreePascal presents a viable option for those seeking a C++-like feature set (classes, exceptions) in a more mentally manageable package, despite its own set of historical and performance considerations. The array of alternatives, from established languages like Ada to modern contenders like Nim and C# with NativeAOT, underscores a rich and evolving field.