I learned Pascal by reading an equivalent book ... Jensen and Wirth, Pascal User Manual and Report. Springer. Silver cover. Typeset in typewriter font. Synt

I learned Pascal by reading an equivalent book ... Jensen and Wirth, Pascal User Manual and Report. Springer. Silver cover. Typeset in typewriter font. Syntax presented both in BNF and graphic 'railroad track' diagrams. Very short, even though it was two books in one: the tutorial User Manual and the reference Report. Very very clear and well-written. The ideal in those days was one book that was complete and authoritative and also instructive - if you knew that book, you knew the language. K&R (1978) is the famous example but Jensen and Wirth preceded it (1974).