Hello, I'm Danilo Bleul from Germany. Long time ago I found my passion in Informatics and Pascal as my favorite programming language. And I swear I'll help keeping the soul of this dying sector alive. Therefore I joined the project "fpos" founded by "rezgui". I think it's better to give Pascal or FreePascal a second [hardware-near] birth than a first total disappearance. Well, maybe I'll start and publish an own project soon... Who knows...

Unfortunately, I don't have a proper answer to this difficult question. Many might think I just started coding a few months ago and hadn't done anything earlier... Maybe I just stared at the caption with the text "PASCAL" written on it (which means I already found my passion INSIDE THIS WORD ;-)

I began programming actively when in 2018 my Informatics teacher introduced me to the IDE "CodeGear Delphi 2007," which was installed on every computer in the computer science room. As we only learned some programming basics (without fundamental explanations and derivations of the programming language itself), I started to explore that environment on my own...

...which indeed wasn't a wrong step. I started to create some basic applications, later testing unknown data types and structures, and finally fulfilling my visions of software that DOESN'T EXIST YET but definitely could be useful for a large number of people.

I still program in my free time, as long as I can, due to the restrictions initiated by university lessons.

On one hand, I'm working with many IDEs specialized for the OBJECT PASCAL programming language and its derivatives (as every language is unique):

• I upgraded from Delphi 2007 to Rad Studio 12; Also, I have tested some versions between this span (e.g., Delphi XE [yy]). I code inside these IDEs because especially the Firemonkey branch is JUST A WELL-STRUCTURED, HIGH-QUALITY FRAMEWORK which is comfortable to use. But the IDE is still available FOR WINDOWS DEVICES ONLY (although you may create CROSS-PLATFORM APPLICATIONS FOR ANY COMMON OS), which kind of disappoints me.
• I found the Free Pascal Programming Language as an open-source development playground. Aside from that, the Lazarus IDE finally IS A CROSS-PLATFORM SOLUTION so I can install it on any device I want and program wherever I can. Therefore, it became my essential and most-used development environment.

On the other hand, I started to combine Pascal with many other programming languages with the goal of leveraging all delivered benefits:

• In the Rad Studio, you can develop applications using Delphi AND C++. Therefore, If I definitely need multiple inheritance or extensive generics (templates ;-) for my app, some features Delphi currently doesn't deliver, I just code that in C++.
• If I need a client scripting section, I implement a ready language engine as an extension. This is already possible by using Python, Lua, Java, and even more.

Generally, OF COURSE the repositories are helpful. They don't only show my development and learning curve, but the projects could be also used as a base for own applications.

There are four types of repositories which names carry the following description words:

• FROZEN: These repositories usually won't be updated and only exist for backupping or sharing. You may reuse their contents for own projects. You may beg for editing rights to modify and improve the project INSIDE THE CURRENT REPOSITORY.
• DIAMOND: The projects inside these repositories represent my main work and my own software visions. Finally, they will be also pinned at my GitHub profile page
• SOMETIMES: Such repositories can be categorized between FROZEN and DIAMOND: I maintain them currently (mostly for personal needs), but will be inactive as they seem to be completed
• REALLIFE: [I'M UNSURE IF I REALLY WOULD POST THE WORK PROGRESS OF MY HANDCRAFTED NOT-PROGRAMMED GADGETS ON THIS PLATFORM]

The instructions for project editing and compilation can be found inside the readme.md of the according repository. Hopefully there wouldn't be any issues...