> numeric data types are 'integer' and 'real', no single/double nonsense Actually in Free Pascal (and AFAIK Delphi) there are Single and Double (and Extended)

> numeric data types are 'integer' and 'real', no single/double nonsense Actually in Free Pascal (and AFAIK Delphi) there are Single and Double (and Extended) that map to 32bit and 64bit floats (Extended depends on the target CPU, e.g. for 32bit x86 is 80bit floats but for 64bit x86 is 64bit floats) since you actually do need to differentiate between the two in practice. > 'functions' are for returning values, 'procedures' for side effects FWIW even in Turbo Pascal (i don't remember which exact version) functions could also be used as procedures (the return value was ignored). While in theory separating the two sounds nice, in practice it is often useful to be able to ignore function results. > Array indexing is your choice. Start at 0? Start at 1? Start at 100? It's up to you. One additional neat bit is that you don't even have to use numbers, any ordinal type will work. Enums are ordinal types so you can do "type Foo = (Bar, Baz, Bad); FooArray = array [Foo] of Integer;" and then use "Bar, Baz, Bad" to access the array. You can use ranges too. > To switch between call-by-value and call-by-reference all you have to do is change your function/procedure signature. No changes at the call sites or inside the function/procedure body. Another bummer for me when I learned C. FWIW i prefer the C# approach of being explicit when you pass something as a reference since it makes it obvious on the call site just by reading the code. Beyond these i agree with your comment.