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Borland Releases Kylix 3.0 for Delphi and C++
An anonymous reader writes "Looks like Borland is giving us Kylix for C++ after all. Kylix 3.0 is available in Open, Professional, and Enterprise versions. Time to start banging out those CLX apps! The Register also has a story about this."
The writer seems to think that Kylix 3 will be a C++ replacement for Kylix 2. Kylix 3 will support C++ in addition to the existing feature set.
[1] http://www.heise.de/newsticker/data/hos-23.07.02-0 00/
[2] http://www.borland.com/kylix/open/index.html
I can think of several great products released by Borland over the years - Turbo Pascal, Turbo C, and Turbo Basic to name a few of them. There was a time when Borland's products were the "compiler of choice" for most developers, especially in the CP/M and early MS-Dos days. For the longest time, Borlands Debugger (TDebug) was shipped with Microsoft's C compilers.
I've actually used Kylix 2.0 Open Edition to cross-compile a shareware game I've been working on in Delphi 6. It's very convienent to have one set of source code, and simply re-compile with Kylix for Linux distribution! (Yes, avoiding Windows API calls and such helps... plus I'm using JEDI-SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer) for graphic/sound cross-platform stuff). Perhaps now instead of people saying, you can't develop cross-platform games with Delphi you should use C++... I can simple agree (instead of arguing and pointing out that Kylix is cross-platform) and say, sure, I could do that and use the same compiler I've been using all along... leaving certain code in Delphi, but re-writting parts in C++ (just for fun) but no, I don't have to use C++ it's just a language - I prefer Kylix 3.0 for my development environment!
From the Borland Kylix 3 FAQ
Q: What development languages does Kylix 3 support?
Once installed, Kylix 3 delivers two separate IDEs--one for use with the Delphi language and one that supports C/C++. This support enables Kylix developers to provide solutions in the language that suits them or the language that is appropriate for the given project. Both IDEs take advantage of the sophisticated CLX architecture and each has corresponding support for crossplatform development with a Borland product for the Windows platform: Delphi language with Delphi, and C/C++ with
C++Builder.
Q: Can I use standard Linux development tools along with Kylix 3?
Yes. For example, use build tools such as Make files or Ant, and editors such as vi or Emacs.
http://borland.com/kylix/pdf/kyl3_faq.pdf
So, looks like no GCC-support...
They're *selling* it. They're only giving away an "Open" version. The open version can't be used to create commercial apps, and doesn't contain all of the components that make delphi development so easy and efficient. I use delphi at work (I've got it open now, actually), and I've tried the Open version of Kylix before at home... it's way watered down compared to the pro/enterprise versions of delphi/kylix. Still a really useful tool for simple, quick, and fast apps.
It's not a bad business model, considering most people doing non-comercial development won't pay a hefty price for a professional development environment anyways.
You can already find out how seemless the Object Pascal/C++ integration will be, Borland C++ Builder
I've used BCB, and it's a quality product. It's not as clean as Delphi, but some PHB's I've seen get scared when you tell them you're going to write software in *shock* something other than C/C++.
When it comes to working with databases it's just hard to beat the usefullness and quality of the Borland database components. You just have to do so much less work when you use them.
Yes, I believe it does have intellisense.
Actually, until VS.NET came out, I would have said that Delphi/Kylix's intellisense was far superior to VC6 and everything else on the market. As of Visual Studio.NET, however, MS has made a comeback in the Easy-To-Use IDE race, and is on par w/ delphi.
I feel tricked I went to the Borland site to try to download, foudn out I had to register. Only to find out after registering that only version two is downloadable..
They dual license the libraries so they can be used either GPL or proprietary... you really should know what you're talking about before you flame...
Screenshots of Kylix IDE...(an alpha version)
http://www.drbob42.com/kylix/hotshot.htm
I tend to agree with the Anonymous poster.. it's an IDE.. the power of CodeInsight, code templates, etc can't easily be demonstrated through a screenshot. Read through the Features to get an idea of what the environment supports.
Well, it's not only name mangling, but also how exceptions are handled, how memory is (de)allocated, etc. A C++ ABI is more than just name (de)mangling.
OTOH, there is an ongoing effort to define a common ABI for C++, and GCC 3.x uses that: see here for more info.
I don't know about the other apps you mentioned, but if you purchase Kylix, regardless what happens to Trolltech, you have the right to create and distribute apps you create with it however you like. Any licensing changes made by Trolltech can't apply retroactively, so the stuff you get with Kylix will still be fairly licensed to you to use in whatever manner you want. Okay, you may not be able to link with their latest libs, but you'll have the right to distribute the libs you got with Kylix with applications that use them anyways!
This won't be a big problem because you won't be able to link with those libs with g++ or gcc -- only C++ Builder for Linux. As for Kylix 3 Open, the issue of linking with QT is already covered by Borland's licensing restriction on it which requires that applications built with it be GPL'd, which goes back in synch with TrollTech's license policy anyways.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'