Turbo Pascal 7 was so fast it helped Windows win the desktop
They don't make 'em like that any more: Borland Turbo Pascal 7
Kevin Boone recalls building medical imaging software with Borland Turbo Pascal 7 under Windows 3.1. A compiler born on CP/M, optimized in assembly to run in 32kB of RAM, flew once given megabytes and a hard disk, and its Object Windows Library wrapped the C API in clean objects before Microsoft managed anything comparable. Boone argues TP helped Windows dominate desktops, and that losing such deep engineering skill is something we may yet regret.
If there had been a 'Turbo Pascal for Linux' in the early 90s, then we might all be running Linux on our desktops today.