Intrinsic functions beginning with As are convertors. That is, they convert a value from one form to another.
For example, a common requirement is to use numeric values as part of display strings for things such as messages or captions. Rather than having to use Built-In Functions to convert variables to different types, it is now possible to perform the conversion within the individual command.
In this example, the numeric value #salary is converted to a string:
#com_owner.caption := 'Employee salary is ' + #salary.AsString
