RTL: what changed
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Title: RTL
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| 1 | + | Free Pascal **Runtime Library** (**RTL**) | |
| 2 | + | ||
| 3 | + | A *Run-Time Library* is the set of [[Source code|source code]] files that are used to create the portion of the [[Application|application]] which is generated or included by the [[Compiler|compiler]] and used for the following purposes: | |
| 4 | + | ||
| 5 | + | - [[Initialization]] of the run-time-library itself prior to activation of the user's application | |
| 6 | + | - Initialization and [[startup]] of the application | |
| 7 | + | - providing standard Pascal services to the application (support for the [[Write]] and [[Writeln]] [[standard function|standard functions]], for example) | |
| 8 | + | - providing any [[library function|library functions]] which are not defined [[inline]] by the compiler such as mathematical routines | |
| 9 | + | - providing extended Pascal services to the application (support for the [[Assign]] [[extended function]] to assign a reference to an [[external file]] to a [[file variable]]). | |
| 10 | + | - providing a conversion for local equivalents for a standard or extended function into the local equivalent (for example, changing the Write or writeln statement to write to a window in a windowed environment if the file variable is pointing to a window, to write to the screen in a text environment if the file is pointing to the terminal, or to write to a file if the file variable is pointing to an external file. | |
| 11 | + | ||
| 12 | + | ## RTL units | |
| 13 | + | ||
| 14 | + | There are many different units with partly overlapping functionality. This is caused by different reasons, especially: | |
| 15 | + | ||
| 16 | + | - FPC tries to be compatible to two different compilers ([[Turbo Pascal]]/[[Borland Pascal]] and [[Delphi]]) with slightly different syntax and different sets of supplied units for two different paradigms (procedural and object oriented programming) | |
| 17 | + | - FPC supports many different platforms requiring support of both platform specific API functions and common routines available across all or at least most supported platforms. | |
| 18 | + | ||
| 19 | + | A simplified overview can be found in this [[Unit categorization|unit categorization]]. A detailed description of individual units and included routines is available in the [[doc:rtl/index.html|RTL unit reference manual]] provided as part of the FPC documentation. | |
| 20 | + | ||
| 21 | + | ## Using RTL | |
| 22 | + | ||
| 23 | + | Some problems using the [[crt unit|crt]] and the [[video unit|video]] units with unix terminals are described here: [[Terminal & Fonts]] | |
| 24 | + | ||
| 25 | + | Read about the API units (Video/Mouse/Keyboard) and the Crt Unix, the bigger picture in [[KVM API and Crt future]] | |
| 26 | + | ||
| 27 | + | The windows interface units have an own page [[Windows API units|here]] | |
| 28 | + | ||
| 29 | + | ## Developing RTL | |
| 30 | + | ||
| 31 | + | [[RTL development articles]] | |
| 32 | + | ||
| 33 | + | ## See Also | |
| 34 | + | ||
| 35 | + | - [Reference for package 'rtl'](https://www.freepascal.org/docs-html/rtl/)—official documentation. | |
| 36 | + | - [Another link for the official documentation](https://lazarus-ccr.sourceforge.io/docs/rtl/) (same as above). | |
| 37 | + | ||
| 38 | + | - [“Free Pascal runtime library”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Pascal_Runtime_Library) in the English Wikipedia. | |
| 39 | + | ||
| 40 | + | --- | |
| 41 | + | *From the Free Pascal wiki, page "RTL", as it stood on 2023-08-23 after a change by Myrmidon, out of the wiki's dump of 2024-05-26. Copyright stays with the author who wrote it, according to the old wiki's [[Licensing]] page. If you have concerns about this material, [message the admin](/wiki-contact).* | |
| 42 | + | Category: RTL |