Pascal Script

Pascal Script is a free scripting engine that allows you to use most of the Object Pascal language within Delphi or Free Pascal projects at runtime.

Was written completely in Delphi, it is composed of a set of units that can be compiled into an executable, eliminating the need to distribute any external files.

Pascal Script started out as a need for a good working script, when there were none available at the time.

Use

One prominent use of Pascal Script is the Open Source Inno Setup project. Inno Setup is a widely used setup engine that uses Pascal Script as scripting engine to provide advanced scripting abilities during installation and uninstallation. Using Pascal Script, users can customize almost all parts of the setup, add new wizard pages, call into DLLs to add advanced features and provide custom behavior and install conditions.

Pascal Script is also used for server-side scripting in Pascal Server Pages.

History

Pascal Script started out in 2001 with CajScript 1.0, which was soon superseded by CajScript 2.0 (later called Innerfuse Pascal Script 2.0).

Version 2.0 interpreted scripts while it ran them, which had the disadvantage that every piece of code had to be reparsed every time the script engine went over it.

With Pascal Script 3.0, this was changed to a new model, where the compiler and runtime were completely separated from each other and used a custom byte code format to represent the compiled script. This compiled script only contained the bare minimum that was required to execute the code.

Later, when Carlo Kok joined RemObjects, it was renamed RemObjects Pascal Script and is now being maintained by RemObjects Software^[1] .

References