Editing JRT Pascal (section)

== History ==
At the end of the 1970s, the most popular Pascal implementation for [[microcomputers]] was [[UCSD Pascal]], which many people considered overpriced at hundreds of dollars. The original basis for UCSD Pascal was the [[p-code machine|p-machine]] compiler from [[ETH Zurich]], the originators of Pascal.
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:JRT ADV March83.jpg| thumb | right |200 px | Advertisement for version 3.0 of the JRT compiler, March 1983 [[BYTE]] magazine ]] -->
JRT was a Pascal interpreter by Jim Russell Tyson that compiled to its own pseudocode separate from UCSD Pascal p-code.

In the early 1980s various organizations developed compilers for UCSD Pascal on microcomputers. UCSD's developers announced that they were working on a native compiler that would essentially convert UCSD from an interpreter to a compiled, native system in one step. JRT was able to get considerable attention for several months by being a much cheaper alternative to UCSD Pascal. This lasted less than a year, as [[Borland]] began selling [[Turbo Pascal]]. However, JRT was very important in that it established a low price precedent (less than {{US$|long=no|100}}) for a Pascal implementation.

JRT advertisements promised "a complete CP/M Pascal for only {{US$|long=no|29.95}}!", stating that "this is the same system we sold for {{US$|long=no|295}}!".<ref name="byte198212">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1982-12/1982_12_BYTE_07-12_Game_Plan_1982#page/n11/mode/2up | title=Now: A Complete CP/M Pascal for Only $29.95! | work=BYTE | date=December 1982 | accessdate=1 October 2016 | pages=11 | type=advertisement}}</ref> After receiving too many orders for it to fill—[[Jerry Pournelle]] reported in ''[[BYTE]]'' that [[Sarah Smith (writer)|Sarah Smith]] had not received the software eight months after ordering—JRT Systems filed for [[Chapter 11 bankruptcy]] on 18 November 1983.<ref name="pournelle198401">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1984-01/BYTE-1984-01#page/n61/mode/2up | title=Too Many Leads, or What in *;?!#"*? Goes First? | work=BYTE | date=January 1984 | accessdate=20 January 2015 | author=Pournelle, Jerry | pages=61}}</ref> The product eventually continued through a version 4 priced at {{US$|long=no|69.95}} and along with a [[Modula-2]] at {{US$|long=no|99.95}} may have been successful had not Turbo Pascal shown up for about the same price. Turbo Pascal was a true compiler with an IDE as well as a business model that allowed it to meet customer demand. JRT was said to have later been sold under the name "Nevada Pascal" by Ellis Computing.