Borland's manuals were fantastic in so many ways, from the typesetting to the organization of the chapters/books. They were, in comparison to many other manuals

Borland's manuals were fantastic in so many ways, from the typesetting to the organization of the chapters/books. They were, in comparison to many other manuals, both friendly and pragmatic. Look at the "Getting started" part of this manual. The marketing copy is top notch (referencing "hackers and wizards", "blindingly fast programs"), and then just one page later you're running your first program. One of the formative experiences of my childhood was getting my hands on the Turbo Pascal 5.5 "Object-Oriented Programming Guide" (1989) [1] just before going on a ferry holiday to Germany. It was a relatively slim volume that was separate from the other manuals that came with TP. On that ferry trip I read the book cover to cover, and even started writing programs on paper, since I didn't have a computer with me. I had learned procedural programming before then, and Pascal's OOP extensions just blew my mind at the time. Looking at the manual now, it's just really well written and laid out. [1] http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/borland/turbo_pascal/Turbo_Pascal_Version_5.5_Object-Oriented_Programming_Guide_1989.pdf http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/borland/turbo_pascal/Turbo_Pasc...