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What was so bad about UCSD Pascal?

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It was basically Java before machines got fast enough to make Java practical.

Then again you wouldn't have the initial JVM bytecode interpreter without p-code and the p-system, which were the bytecode and runtime environment used by UCSD Pascal. These were a direct inspiration for the Sun engineers developing Java.

Definitely ahead of its time. For awhile it was possible to run the same applications on IBM, Apple II, TI-99/4A and more but it was cumbersome and it never had a "killer app".

It was also difficult to transfer files between disparate platforms in those days. If there had ever been a p-code applications market, distribution would have still required separate boxed copies for different platforms.

As mentioned by others, it's pascal implementation and p-code concept were pretty cool. But it left a lot to be desired as an operating system. For example, IIRC, files had to be stored in continuous blocks on the disk and management of blocks were up to the user. If your file needed 10 blocks then you needed to find a hole on the disk with at least 10 blocks... which meant you might need to move other files around to make enough that hole.

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