Computers: Pascal is a `natural¿: Its proponents find this high-level language well suited for microprocessor software programs
Kenneth Wickham · IEEE Spectrum · 1979
Most programmers at Texas Instruments feel that writing in a high-level language (HLL) is one effective way to cut costs and that this is particularly true of a language like Pascal, which lends itself to top-down structuring. When our programmers compare writing in Pascal with writing in native microprocessor assembly language, they find that programmer efficiency increases by a factor of 2.5 to 3 and that software development and maintenance time, after the problem has been analyzed, is reduced by a factor of 2. The switch from machine code to Pascal increases productivity for three reasons: Each program high-level statement creates several machine instructions that permit the programmer to solve the problem at an abstract level rather than deal in machine code. A structured HLL like Pascal allows problems to be solved the way the natural thought processes work-from the top down. Because Pascal is easier to read, it is easier to modify.