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Inprise/Borland Pledge Support For Mac OS X
Over at Infoworld, there is an article about Borland which announced at the Borland Developers' conference that JBuilder will be available next year for Mac OS X with support for the Apple's upcoming Aqua GUI. The article also mentions that Inprise/Borland is now commited to the developers community. Thoughts, anyone?
gcc is a Good Thing. However, it's not an IDE. For the $100 CW gave you compile/link for four languages (well, one's pascal...) a decent debugger, a bunch o' useful tools (viz zoneranger), a fully-developed C++ framework (powerplant), a shwack of documentation (in pre-internet-explosion days a big deal) and a fantastic text editor. An IDE should be one-stop coding. Metrowerks gave me that.... for a hundred bucks. I gotta admit that what really hooked me on CW was the text editor. It sounds stupid, but it's what you're looking at 90% of coding time so it's worthwhile having a nice one. vi and emacs are functional I suppose but, ultimately, are designed for console use and have the finesse of a rowboat (flame at will). Kwrite has syntax colouring, but is so out of line with every other editor in the world that using it feels like playing scrabble in a foreign language. When I write for the Solaris box, I use CW, save the file to the ethershare volume and telnet to run gcc.
Is it obvious that I'm a hopeless fan?
So, what Borland is really offering is a whole line of tools capable of running in all important platforms. For a developer it is a heavenly deal.
CodeWarrior is also available on Winders and there's a Linux version as well (redhat only as near as I can tell). I can't vouch for the quality of experience on the "secondary" platforms, though.
2 1337 4 u!
That is definitely an incorrect assumption. I don't know much about c++, but Delphi is a distinct minority to VB (at least in the corporate world I live in). Not that I'm knocking Delphi, it's a great product.
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DO NOT DISTURB THE SE
When Apple was almost gone, Microsoft saved them by releasing the only piece of quality software for the system: Excel.
;)
Um. Actually, Excel was released for MacOS first, when MSFT was still a comparatively minor player. Windows 1.0 was written for the express purpose of being able to run Excel on DOS.
Other than that, nice work
I didn't mean a monopoly on computing. You seem to be forgetting the clone fiasco of a few years ago.
Open Source. Closed Minds. We are Slashdot.
Software, I have no complaint with :)
Open Source. Closed Minds. We are Slashdot.
...run more than 5 minutes without crashing, at least on "hello world" size programs?
Perhaps they can progess to simple dialogs from that point.
Sorry, never tried a version that didn't crash within five minutes.
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Considering that the whole thing is 100% Java, it is more surprising that they actually have to port the thing than that they ported it. The whole aqua thing is just a free ride on Sun's announced port of jdk 1.3 to Mac OS X which will include an aqua theme for swing.
It would be nice though if they would also consider porting delphi to Mac OS. It shouldn't be to hard considering they are already porting it to linux. With support for mac OS they would have support for all major consumer desktops.
Jilles
Try it, especially if you have previously tried JBuilder 1,2 or 3 (its version 3.5, 100% pure java - others were 80% java, 20% delphi)
N
Is it better to take advantage of the advantages of a non-platform-independent feature, or remain pure?
One the purity side, there is a lot to be said about violating that purity. The moment you start adding platform-dependent features, you must start providing platform-dependent documentation, support, etc. It opens up a whole new can of worms. And each of those works is one of the reasons platform-independence was chosen in the first place.
On the advantages side, the people who paid for the feature want to use it. And if use of the feature in a platform-dependent manner wouldn't damage the other platforms, why not take advantage of it?
I have a philosophy about using DHTML in websites. Currently, I say use it to dress things up, if you will, but don't put an functionality in it that can't be had elsehow.
I think the same philosophy should apply here. The mousewheel is a WONDERFUL innovation (heh, sorry, had to throw that word in there). Anyone who has learned to use almost can't live without it. There is some very simple JNI hooks that could be added to implement it. However, if someone didn't have a wheel mouse (or was on a platform that didn't support it), no functionality would be lost. You could still scroll your windows in the traditional manner. So, what's the harm?
As for the file-chooser, my understanding (which is not infallible) is that it is an issue on every platform. In which case, Borland could've provided a work-around for JBuilder solution and still been platform independent. Heck, the solution could've even been their own 100% Java File-Chooser dialog and they could still claim 100% Java.
Still, to be fair, in the case of the two features (multi-file choosing and mousewheel), these are both bugs in Sun's JDK, not in Borland's code. Hoepfully, Sun is working on these. I just think it's sad that Borland could've easily worked around these bugs and didn't.
I'm sure that my karma will plummit for pointing this out, but come on HeUnique, where is your sense of grammar?
I am not sure about your karma (or mine, after this) but your credentials as a grammar nazi are irrevocably lost for spelling 'plummet' as you just did.
Information wants to be beer, or something like that.
> Still, to be fair, in the case of the two features (multi-file choosing and mousewheel), these are both bugs in Sun's JDK, not in Borland's code. Hoepfully, Sun is working on these.
Mouse wheel support is planned for the next JDK (version 1.4, aka "Merlin"). You can find a PDF with all the proposed features at here
Not sure about multi-file choosing, but other file chooser enhancements are listed. If you want multi-file choosing, request it, because the draft is open for comments until next week.
obviously. Any statement to the contrary would imply you were a winders user :-)
Seriously, CW's last major improvement was the java RAD. While I have one issue with it (complete code rewrite for even the smallest change) it's otherwise really good. The intro of the RAD, however, was inspired by the possibility that developers would move to another platform and ide for their java designing. With java's semi-deserved WORA rep, that was a possibility metrowerks had to consider seriously.
For the aesthetically sensitive, the present version of CodeWarrior also happens to be very ugly, those black tab things in the project window - yuck.
black tab things? You mean the files/design/link order/targets tabs? (mine are grey). I kinda like those, even though they're not appearance manager compliant... I think the project manager in general is well laid out. Even for big projects, the whole thing takes up only 20% of my screen real-estate and I get access to the necessary-but-not-often-used windows on demand but without clutter. My biggest aesthetic complaint is the lack of splash screen ("is it on yet?")
It is incredibly ackward to use multiple-target projects in CodeWarrior
I must admit you've got me there, I only rarely build to anything other than PPC release and debug. Heck, I skip debug most of the time...
2 1337 4 u!
What were they commited to in the past?
They've pretty much lost they're foothold on Windows over the years to MS's tools. By heavily supporting Linux and Mac they're filling a great niche that's been left open for far too long.
Another possible offshoot of this is having them seen as a great development platform to program for multiple OS's. If that becomes the case, they could make a serious run at MS's suite of tools. This is just good news all the way around. Hope Borland has the stuff to make it happen.
The line must be drawn here. This far. No further.
Why am I respondinmg to an obvious Troll?
Apple only lost money for 2 quarters. The losses were not huge. At all other times they made huge gains.
Have you actually used a Mac? One button works very well. You don't need more than that. Would you prefer a 5 button mouse? Is there a huge advantage to excessive complexity, or do you just like domonstrating your 1337 skills?
Yeah. Apple pretty much has their 10% marketshare locked up. Monopoly indeed!
- Jeff A. Campbell
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It would be great if they could implement something like the VCL in every version of their product, regardless of the platform it runs on. The added advantage being that it makes porting apps a lot easier.
c h.html
They are working on this - its called CLX. You might find this interesting:
http://www.borland.com/about/press/2000/trollte
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
What the hell? I'm stunned that Borland would make such a statement. CodeWarrior is most definitely a "real development tool"... oh, and it does java rad too (although even a small change in the RAD builder rewrites all RAD code forcing you to do some fancy copy/paste...)
Borland may be surprised to find that the Mac community really loves their CodeWarrior, and for good reasons: .mcp format. Heck, even Apple does this... not a great vote of confidence for MPW. Mind you, with java it's not such a big deal, but it's helped ingrain CW into the Mac psyche.
1. When all had abandoned the mac, Metrowerks toughed it out and gave us some pretty hot stuff.
2. When IDEs on "other platforms" were going for hundreds (sometimes hundreds and hundreds) of dollars, metrowerks offered a "discover" package that compiled C, C++, Java and Pascal for $100.
3. Everyone knows mac programming can be a bit of a black art (just how many times do I need to call moreMasters()? three? oops... let's try four) Their response? CodeWarriorU. For free. If you're of the opinion that Dan Parks Sydow can't write (and he can't) you're grateful...
4. If you download code for the mac it's almost always in an
5. Merchandise. Will Borland offer boxers as cool as the PowerPlant ones? Will their mascot be cooler than Arnold? Hm. Probably not.
2 1337 4 u!
The phrase 'monopoly' comes to mind, here.
Monopoly isn't a phrase. It's a word. Just like dumb.
That was a dumb, unthought of BS comment is a phrase.
The mere thought of someone saying Apple holds a monopoly with it's 8-9% marketshare dims my hope for global intelligence. is my answer.
I was at JavaONE and I listed to Steve Jobs pledge (yet again) his "support" and "committment" to making Java awesome on the mac. i'll believe it when i see it. Apple has *never* delievered on this and never will.
It's substanially more practical to make Java "awesome" on Mac OS X (BSD/Unix/Mach) then it is on Mac OS "classic." Making Java work well on the Mac so far has basically been restricted by the OS itself, rather Apple's ability to write a good VM. Mac OS X's infrastructure is superior in every way. Remember, starting in 1997, Apple's core engineering was completely revamped after the NeXT engineers were brought in. Since that time, there have been two primary tasks for Avie Tevanian's software team:
1) Fix Mac OS 8/9 as a stopgap
2) Launch Mac OS X
I would also add that some miraculous feats have been performed to accomplish #1.
Java is a major part of Mac OS X as a whole. Some of the included apps, for example, are written in Java. WebObjects will soon be all Java, and Cocoa (Apple's recommended API set for new, non-ported applications) largerly revolves around the Java language.
- Scott
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Scott Stevenson
Scott Stevenson
Tree House Ideas
Okay, bad choice of words, accepted. But you knew what I was getting at. Someone made a comment that Apple was "better" because it made more than Dell/Gateway etc. Having control over the marketspace of your product makes that rather easier, don't you think?
Open Source. Closed Minds. We are Slashdot.
I only ever used the bug ridden version 1.0 of JBuilder (and was sorely disapointed) but I seem to recall that felt like it itself was written in Java.
:)
Since this is inkeeping with borlands "We wrote Turbo pascal in turbo pascal & delphi in delphi" philsophy it makes me wonder just what's groundbreaking about supporting MacOSX.
Now when they can produce a version of Delphi (I love that environment/language) that will compile for Win32, Linux & OsX from a single source... then i will be impressed
Incidentally, Borland has done the Java community and themselves a massive favour by making JBuilder Foundation free (as in beer). It's a brilliant fully featured product- highly recommended!
Roberto (Java fanatic, in case you hadn't guessed)