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Borland Releases Kylix 2
Tal Cohen writes "Borland Kylix 2 is now available. Most new features are geared at Enterprise-level developers; the Open edition is still available for free download. The CLX (cross-platform component library) is covered under both GNU and Borland's license." The new features list is interesting - a fair number of buzzwords, but it also looks like they are supporting a lot of the new stuff. The white papers have some interesting topics - including gcc vs. Kylix.
I don't see much competition among the all-in-one development environments for Linux. Kylix is an attempt to become the MS Visual Studio of Linux. I don't see anything else as broad as this. KDevelop is kind of a Turbo C app. I'm not familiar with KDE Studio, but it seems to be the only real competition.
Developers, and especially companies, really want the grand development environment that nicely brings everything together. That's exactly why every Windows developer eventually dropped Borland's array of products and went to MS Visual Studio.
Borland here is trying to keep up with the times and learn from the past. I think this is a great step for Linux.
Developers: We can use your help.
That's funny in a way. KDevelop is trying hard to emulate Visual Studio, which itself has done its damndest to incorporate any Delphi features it could pilfer (esp. ever since Heijlsberg got on-board), while also introducing a slew of new languages and a new component model. Yet Delphi is still considered the black sheep, because it uses Object Pascal. Well, happy C# coding--never mind that it's a veritable semantic OP clone.
I'm sure a C++ product will follow, much like C++Builder followed Delphi. However, I can understand why they didn't implement this for C++ first: their target audience is not C++ programmers.
Any C++ programmers who are already programming for Linux are probably using gcc and the many tools available. Borland is trying to woo Windows programmers to Linux. Since Delphi already has a large source code base out there, making it source code compatible with the Windows version helps Windows people feel comfortable in Linux. These people would have a much harder time switching if they had to start using gcc and vim.
Once they feel they've wooed as many Delphi developers to Kylix for Linux/Windows development, I'll bet we see a C++Builder for Linux as well.
And just what is wrong with Pascal? I happen to think it's a wonderful language - it can be depended on. I'd rather use Delphi/Pascal ANY DAY rather than program in any version of BASIC.
Codifex Maximus ~ In search of... a shorter sig.
Actually it is much easier to write the app in Kylix first and then port to Delphi. This is because Kylix forces you to write CLX (cross platform) code, and Delphi lets you choose between CLX and VCL (cross platform and not cross platform) code.
Slashdot is an anagram for Has Dolts, and I am Dolt number 468543
Are you nuts. This product kicks butt compared to all the other IDE wannbes. Borland is the only alternative to Microsoft and doing a great job producing the best tools. It's revenues and share price (and profits) are all up up up.
What is there not to like?
Kdevelop and the recently released kdestudio 3.0 gold is playing hard.
You've never used Borland's Object Pascal compiler. For all intents and purposes, even going back to the early days of the Pentium, it compiles instantaneously. Give it a large project on a 333MHz PII and--bang--it is compiled and linked before you lift your finger off of the Build key. This is a huge, huge productivity boost.
Does the compiler do as much optimization as gcc? No. But it's still an optimizing compiler that gets within the "I don't care about the difference" range.
When I see people talking about needing dual Athlons to get their gcc compile times down to the single digit minutes, then I'm appalled. With Delphi you're at *zero*. That's liberating beyond belief.
I don't see where anyone has mentioned that this should be good for some businesses. In the case of a shop with split MS/Linux computers, they can write one internal business app in a RAD environment that will run on both of their systems. This allows for the good productivity of a RAD tool with the portability of Java, C, etc.
It could also be an incentive to switch over to Linux - they could have their apps written in Delphi on Windows, and then move as slowly/quickly as they want when converting to Linux without necessitating major code porting. In a slow economy, cost savings are of more obvious importance to management.
Of course, all previously MS-only code (VB, etc) would still need to be reworked, but there are benefits to be had for businesses looking at Kylix.
If Kylix takes off, it could really be a boon for Linux.
Most pascal bashers can't even tell why C/C++ is more
superior than an advanced dialect like Delphi.
One of the major things is templates, which I'd love to
see in Delphi
Also, one thing to note may be that by necessity there could be more documentation about Linux online than there is about MS products (lack of paper manuals for ISO downloaders, etc. could be reasons), which would lead to more hits for Linux-related pages. Still, it's interesting.
Yes it is, but I doubt that it's clear that there is more documentation for linux than for MS products.
What we should consider is the linux howtos are mirrored a bazillion times throughout the internet, while in MS's case a lot of documentation is concentrated at support.microsoft.com or other microsoft sites.
A search for "linux networking howto" yields 2770 hits for instance.
Alas, you are equating apples to oranges.
First, I am not a Java developer. But, I am aware that one of the biggest problems facing the JBuilder team was the diversity of Java VMs (i.e. some worked and some don't). JBuilder allows you to target multiple Java VMs with ease and that was a bane to releasing a "stable" product. They worked with the various Java VM teams (Blackdown is one that comes to mind) to make it compatible. JB3 was a blacksheep product. JB4 fixed many issues and JB5 is now the current product.
After having coded in C, C++, the forsaken VB and a slew of other languages, I discovered Delphi in 1994. I haven't looked back since.
Why? Because it has enabled me and my teams to develop applications in a fraction of the time that C++ would have required and substantially more stable and reliable than VB has ever been. My Delphi apps came in on or ahead of schedule and don't crash. IMO, Delphi is a secret weapon when you need to get high quality, database applications out to the market place when under a tight schedule.
Yes, Delphi has had its bogus releases (Delphi 4 in particular). D3 was very stable and D5 fixed D4. D6 now offers cross platform development capability (if you use the CLX library) via Kylix. The language, Object Pascal, is not the same as Pascal just as C++ is not C. I suggest you take a few hours and learn the differences between Object Pascal and Pascal. The only real downside to Object Pascal is it is more verbose than the equivalent C/C++ code. But, then again, it's also a lot easier to understand and maintain (a side benefit of its Pascal roots).
Kylix has bugs (just as any major new tool does). Blame that on both errors in the Kylix tool itself as well as buggy Linux distros (RH in particular). To me, the only bug that really affects me in Kylix is the fact that TThread is broke. Did they fix it in K2? Let's hope so.
My point being, is that you had a bad experience with a single Borland tool. Never mind the fact that many other development shops gave it high praise...you had a bad experience.
Before you blast Borland for putting out "inferior products at insane prices", I suggest you learn more about their products, read some serious critical reviews and then try the products yourself. You may come to realize just how far off base your statements really are.
As for the high prices...well, I can't dispute that. They did it to keep pace with Microsoft. Why? Because how can a product be good when it costs so little? Surely that other product that costs twice as much must be twice as good. Right? By that reasoning, I guess that means that Open Source and Free software must really suck. We know that's not true. FWIW, Borland now appears to be reviewing their pricing structure.
Yet there is support for PostgreSQL/RedHat Database. Just look at the feature matrix...
Having used both Visual Studio and Delphi, I can honestly say that Borland is way aheead in the Visual development stakes. If anything, it has been MS playing catch up in terms of tool quality.
Borland lost out to Visual Studio because of that little thing called the OS monopoly. Companies wanted the assurance that their tools are very closely tied to the OS. Borland's products are still IMO much better, and given the much leveller playing field on Linux I really hope they can succeed.
Basically, if you haven't played with Delphi/Kylix before I seriously suggest you give it a shot. It's free to try, goddamit, and I'm sure most good coders can suspend their disdain for Pascal for long enough to realise that it's actually pretty damn good.