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Borland Releases New C++ Toolkit

shelleymonster writes "Infoworld points out that, after two years of coding, Borland has released its latest C++ development toolkit. Borland C++BuilderX is a multiplatform IDE for Windows, Linux, and Solaris that provides a brand-new visual development environment. Press release here." According to the Infoworld piece, "While newer languages, such as Java and Microsoft's C#, garner more attention than C++, research firm IDC projected that C and C++ professionals will remain the largest group of developers through 2005."

56 of 294 comments (clear)

  1. About Damn Time. by PakProtector · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've been waiting for this for a long time. I'm still using Borland C++ Builder 5.0. I think. Whatever the latest patch was.

    I think it's time to break out the champange and do a happy-naked-pagan-dance 'round the stonehenge of mainframes in the back yard.

    --

    Edward@Tomato - /home/Edward/ man woman
    man: no entry for woman in the manual.
    "Qua!?"

    1. Re:About Damn Time. by Havokmon · · Score: 2
      I think it's time to break out the champange and do a happy-naked-pagan-dance 'round the stonehenge of mainframes in the back yard.

      Holy Cow!

      Did you see this in the article?!
      "Enterprise Studio for Mobile integrates all Symbian Software Development Kits (SDKs)"

      I don't think you'll be doing much naked dancing with a Sybian SDK!

      --
      "I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
    2. Re:About Damn Time. by FroMan · · Score: 3, Funny

      Bah, when I was a kid, we had to use Borland C++ 3.0. And we liked it.

      And when I was an embryo we had to use punch cards, and we liked it!

      You young'ins ain't got it tough, you and your new fangled gui's and champange and happy-naked-pagan-dances...

      --
      Norris/Palin 2012
      Fact: We deserve leaders who can kick your ass and field dress your carcass.
    3. Re:About Damn Time. by IM6100 · · Score: 5, Funny

      You're talking about this sybian, I assume.

      --
      A Good Intro to NetBS
    4. Re:About Damn Time. by Brandybuck · · Score: 2, Funny

      You was lucky! We used to dream of using Turbo Pascal Version 2. When I was a kid we didn't get our supper until we had bootstrapped Wirth's original compiler with a Tiny Pascal interpreter we had from an old Byte magazine.

      --
      Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
    5. Re:About Damn Time. by xybe · · Score: 2, Funny

      ROTFLMAO

      Re:About Damn Time. (Score:2, Informative)

      This is too much, moderators should at least follow the links, lest they mod informatice a site about the most venerable sex toy ever created thinking it is a decelopment platform

      On the bright side, this probably disprove any previous notions that ./ readers watch too much porn, anyone who know his porn would have known better

  2. No Screenshots? by FortKnox · · Score: 4, Insightful

    New IDE but no screenshots? :-(

    Nice thing is, Borland tends to release 'personal' editions for at-home use that require no money (though the features are slimmed down).

    Being a big fan of the JBuilder series, I'll be sure to d/l the personal edition for C++ (in a day or two when the servers aren't so clogged).

    --
    Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
    1. Re:No Screenshots? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
      Just take the "Product Tour"...

      Screenshots galore:

      href="http://www.borland.com/cbuilderx/tour/View_C ++BuilderX%20Turbo%20Demo.htm

    2. Re:No Screenshots? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
      It's a such beautiful story, towards the end you just gotta have tears in your eyes when the "'Hello Borland C++BuilderX' does not run on Linux" bug is finally squashed.

      Awesome!

    3. Re:No Screenshots? by Manic+Ken · · Score: 2, Informative

      Works on my mozilla(Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030626)...then, I have the following plugins:

      Java(TM) Plug-in 1.4.2-b28(libjavaplugin_oji.so)
      Shockwave Flash(libflashplayer.so)(It's a flash demo!)
      mplayerplug-in v0.80 handles QuickTime Windows Media Player Plugin(mplayerplug-in.so)
      Default(libnullplugin.so)
      Plugger 4.0(plugger.so)

      As long as U have Java and flash U should be ok. ?

    4. Re:No Screenshots? by glob · · Score: 2, Insightful

      it's just slow at downloading.

      i'm only getting 13k/s.

      fyi the direct link to the swf is http://www.borland.com/cbuilderx/tour/C++BuilderX% 20Turbo%20Demo.swf

      18.5meg

      --
      nostrils
  3. Borland? by wmaker · · Score: 2, Funny

    What the hell is borland... i thought microsoft was the only c programming language developer.

    j/k of course

  4. largest group by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "Research firm IDC projected that C and C++ professionals will remain the largest group of developers through 2005."

    That's highly subjective. What is a developer? Do you count sysadmins write shells scripts? (If so, they severely outnumber all other forms of development) Can you really lump in all C and C++ developers together (is someone using Visual C++.NET (i.e. using all the .NET libraries and pretty much ignoring the "standard" C++ libraries) the same as someone using gnu C++ on Solaris? What do you guys think?

    1. Re:largest group by ikewillis · · Score: 4, Insightful
      "That's highly subjective. What is a developer?"

      Someone who is paid for the purposes of developing an application.

      "Do you count sysadmins write shells scripts?"

      No, they are paid to maintain systems, not develop applications. Very little of what they write will ever see the light of day.

      "Can you really lump in all C and C++ developers together (is someone using Visual C++.NET (i.e. using all the .NET libraries and pretty much ignoring the "standard" C++ libraries) the same as someone using gnu C++ on Solaris?"

      I don't think the number of people using C++ with managed extensions is statistically significant.

      What they're trying to say is that the number of developers producing native code applications using C and C++ outnumbers those using some sort of runtime environment in conjunction with a language like C# or Java...

    2. Re:largest group by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Sometimes a thank you is payment.

      Open source developers wouldn't do it if they didn't get anything from it.

  5. IDE? by grub · · Score: 2, Funny


    .. a multiplatform IDE ..

    Is that like a multiplatform SCSI or multiplatform Fiberchannel?

    --
    Trolling is a art,
  6. wrong it says by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    "According to analyst research firm IDC, C and C++ professionals will remain the largest class of developers through 20051. "

    year 20051?! HOLY SHIT MAN! OWNAGE!

  7. But I thought... by BitwizeGHC · · Score: 2, Funny

    Visual Basic professionals were the largest group of developers?

    --
    N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
    1. Re:But I thought... by MosesJones · · Score: 2, Funny


      Officially Visual Basic developers are classified as "cleaners with additional training"

      --
      An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
  8. Ironic... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    a C++ IDE written in Java. The scrollbars are the giveaway.

    1. Re:Ironic... by FortKnox · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yup, looks like they simply used the same framework/engine/kernel from JBuilder. The one thing that won't give away that it is java is the fast loadup, and speed of the entire application.

      --
      Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
    2. Re:Ironic... by Bunji+X · · Score: 2, Informative
      Yeah, they should have used
      UIManager.setLookAndFeel("com.sun.java.swing.plaf. windows.WindowsLookAndFeel")
      ;)
      --
      ---
      The combined human population is enough to feed every living tiger for app. 28000 years.
    3. Re:Ironic... by edwdig · · Score: 2, Informative

      The C++ Builder 6.0 IDE was written in C++ Builder. After you installed C++ Builder on Windows 2000, you'd have to run it once as Administrator to get all the registry settings correct. If you tried to run it first as a normal user, you'd get all sorts of errors about C++ Builder runtime files not being registered, and large portions of the UI wouldn't work. But from the filenames you'd get errors about, it was very clear that the IDE was written in C++ Builder.

  9. ha ha ha by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Funny

    research firm IDC projected that C and C++ professionals will remain the largest group of developers through 2005

    C vs. C++ is like vi vs. emacs. Saying that C and C++ professionals are one group is like suggesting a fusion between Megadeth and N'Sync.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    1. Re:ha ha ha by RevMike · · Score: 2, Funny
      C vs. C++ is like vi vs. emacs. Saying that C and C++ professionals are one group is like suggesting a fusion between Megadeth and N'Sync.

      Kernighan = Lemmy, Straustoupe (sp?) = Timberlake

    2. Re:ha ha ha by gantzm · · Score: 2, Informative

      Lemmy was in Motorhead.

      --


      Excessive forking causes un-wanted children.
    3. Re:ha ha ha by dustmote · · Score: 4, Funny

      Megasync? Or N'Death? I'm trying to visualize the videos for bands with these names, and I'm not sure I like what I see. :)

      --


      -1, "1337" speak
  10. C++ Future Development??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny
    "...IDC projected that C and C++ professionals will remain the largest group of developers through 2005."


    Then why have I been out of work for over 2 years?

    1. Re:C++ Future Development??? by fucksl4shd0t · · Score: 2, Funny

      Then why have I been out of work for over 2 years?

      In other news, recent studies show that developers are largest group of unemployed IT professionals.

      --
      Like what I said? You might like my music
  11. So how is Borland play on Linux? by tjstork · · Score: 2, Interesting


    I'm wondering if I could use Borland stuff to make services that run on both Linux and Windows. I don't expect or want O/S compatability layer. I'm a big boy and I understand how to use #ifdef. What I do want is to be able have my project on an EXT2 partition, do a Linux build, test, then, boot into Windows, do a build, test, etc...

    Thoughts?

    --
    This is my sig.
    1. Re:So how is Borland play on Linux? by bstanton0101 · · Score: 2, Informative

      I haven't used Kylix (the Linux part of Borland C++) much, but have heard that people using Indy can develop Network Services on both platforms pretty easily. Indy is included with Borland, but can also be downloaded for free at: http://www.nevrona.com/Indy/indy.html

      --
      Please excuse my English. I am American.
    2. Re:So how is Borland play on Linux? by WasterDave · · Score: 2, Informative

      I was recently doing something similar but lightweight, moving some code between Linux, OS X and Windows. The way that worked for me was to just use a central CVS repository then check out on to the relevant platforms. Three Windows "killer apps" in this were: cygwin, which doesn't suck nearly as much as it used to and has a way handy gui package installer; Tortoise CVS which is how CVS should be done; and Dev C++ which, if nothing else, is the most convenient way of getting gcc, free software Win32 API's and all the other dependencies up and going on Windows.

      Worked for me :)

      Dave

      --
      I write a blog now, you should be afraid.
  12. What about OS X? by alexhmit01 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's weird. Most of the cross-platform toolkits assume that you will use VC++ on Windows, and don't support the Borland compiler very well, which is a shame. Trolltech also has a cross-platform environment (Qt), and they include OS X in there. I don't understand why Qt assumes VC++ on Windows, as opposed to Borland and/or GCC.

    I also don't understand making the effort to do Win32 and some sort of X11 interface, and not building an OS X one? Carbon is C based, and you should be able to build a Carbon wrapper.

    May not be a HUGE market, but the Mac market isn't THAT small., and it's MUCH bigger than Linux. Admittedly, there are probably about as many corporate Linux desktops as OS X desktops, but I know many Unix guys running OS X.

    1. Re:What about OS X? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      the Mac market isn't THAT small., and it's MUCH bigger than Linux

      I'd have guessed that there were more Linux desktop users than Mac users - and I'm convinced that the number of Linux desktop users is growing faster than the number of Mac users. But I haven't any figures. Can anyone point to some real data about this?

    2. Re:What about OS X? by arkanes · · Score: 3, Informative

      Bringing this back on topic, the C++ GUI framework referred to in the press release is - tada! wxWindows! (check the screenshots in the demo).

  13. This could be good. by MagicMerlin · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Borland C++ Builder was, for a time, the best C++ development environent available. C++ Builder 3 was an amazing product that was very tight, quick, and feature packed. Unfortunately after that Borland went into the long black Inprise period and has had some serious quality control isssues with their products.

    Also, MS released Visual Studio 6.0 which was a better compiler for non visual programming (most C++ is non visual programming these days). IMO, this will be a better development environemnt than MFC or Java (at least on windows). The question is, will it be better than VS 7.0/C# for application development?

    I hope this turns out to be good!

    1. Re:This could be good. by Snoopy77 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      C++ Builder still poos all over VC++. The VCL is still and always has been better than the MFC. In terms of speed of development it is up there with VB without the stigma of being labelled a VB programmer.

      Borland have been pumping out great IDEs since Delphi 2.0 and nothing has changed. Once again I find myself wondering why the world is content to use Microsoft products.

      --
      "She's a West Texas girl, just like me" - G.W Bush Iraqis
  14. Re:Has to be said. by wmaker · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...and you are about as cool as a kick in the nuts

  15. Marketing execs: LISTEN UP by WTFmonkey · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I am getting good and sick of every other product off the line having an "X" in it. Back in the day, it was true that products ending in "X" were easier for consumers to remember (Xerox, Kotex). Now, given that consumers have grown up a bit, it just looks silly.

    I am also sick of the use of the word "extreme." I do not want the Extreme Value Combo, I do not want to watch Extreme Television, I do not want to be a part of Extreme Programming. It's even worse when they use Xtreme. It was sorta cool during the (first) X-Games. After that, it just got lame.

    It's even got to the point where X as a substitute for 10 is unacceptable, simply because it looks dumb. Do not say "Version X," please say "Version 10."

    Everyone: do the world a favor and pull a "Clinton-exit-manuever" on the marketers in your office: sneak in after they leave and pry the "X" keys off of their keyboards. Thank you.

    1. Re:Marketing execs: LISTEN UP by OmniVector · · Score: 2, Informative

      wow that's funny. i wrote rant about this very same topic just the other day on my website.

      --
      - tristan
  16. System requirements seem a bit extreme... by printman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    From the overview, system requirements are 512MB RAM minimum, 768MB recommended. That seems a tad bit bloated for an IDE... No thanks!

    --
    I print, therefore I am.
    1. Re:System requirements seem a bit extreme... by I8TheWorm · · Score: 3, Funny

      What do you expect from an IDE written in Java? Isn't that a little like trying to write an OS in VB?

      --
      Saying Android is a family of phones is akin to saying Linux is a family of PCs.
    2. Re:System requirements seem a bit extreme... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      your reading the pro version requirements. the personnel version is only 256 meg which is more reasonable.

  17. Re:But... by buzzsport · · Score: 2, Funny

    It will be released as soon as M$ releases Visual Cobol. (I actually had a running bet with a CS professor who insisted that they would see the light and release one by 2000.)

  18. I Used to Love Borland IDE's by Serapth · · Score: 4, Informative

    Its nice to see Borland trying to fill the niche of Cross Platform compilers... I loved Borland back in the day. I learned C in microsoft Quick C, then once I got my hands on Borland C, then C++... there was no looking back. Until windows came about that is. Up until Visual Studio 6, Borland consistantly made the better IDE. It was truely a joy developing and debugging within the Borland IDE. Even the long departed OWL was a nicer framework then MFC at the time... atleast IMHO. Then things took a turn for the worse...

    I think its safe to say... since Visual Studio 6... the Microsoft product *IS* the IDE of choice to use on Windows. Actually, from what ive seen... since VS 7/.net... its the best damned IDE period! I think alot of people will agree with that... so many damned bells and wistles... its really hard to compete with Visual Studio these days. Actually... VS is the only reason I prefer programming on Wintel over linux. The linux API's are certainly nicer to work with... but from someone who got used to programming in Visual studio... going over to vi/emacs + make files is just toooooo damned painful for me.

    Somewhere along the way... borland released Borland CBuilder... wow... RAD development... without having to use a hooky ass language like VB... how great! So I gave it a shot. I loved it at first... then ran into soooooooo many quirks I was pulling my hair out. Not to mention, I hated the class framework ( VCL or something similar ). It really showed its Delphi roots, and im a C++ programmer for a reason!

    So, at 1000$ USD... does the new Borland compiler have a use? Sure it does... If I have to do cross platform, GUI based C++ applications in the future, and budget allows... Im all over this! I would much rather use a Borland IDE, then any linux build systems ( except possibly KDevelop... it might have come a far way since I checked last! ) But, this product is great, for traditionally windows based C++ developers, who have to do GUI apps on Linux/Unix. Biggest problem I see is... this isnt really a good answer for open source development. Ill explain below.

    The majority of open source code, is written to support the GCC compilers, and the most commonly available Open Source libraries, such as gzip to give an example. Now... in order to get cross platform support with the Borland compiler... with all the frills anyways... you would have to use the borland libraries... this is something I can imagine most opensource projects would shy away from. Not to say, this compiler wont compile code GCC would... or any such thing... Im just saying to really take advantage of its features... you will have to use the borland libraries. This isnt necisarrily a bad thing, but I think it will be a big hangup in the open source communities. Regardless, I hope to get my hands on this product for a better look.

    What I really wish for, is BorlandC# to be release, with target support for either a) Mono or b) a Borland written CLR. Probrably wishful thinking.

    1. Re:I Used to Love Borland IDE's by SilentMajority · · Score: 2, Informative
      in order to get cross platform support with the Borland compiler... with all the frills anyways... you would have to use the borland libraries... this is something I can imagine most opensource projects would shy away from.

      Couple questions:

      1. Why be limited to using the Borland compiler within Borland C++ BuilderX? Why not use the now tightly integrated GCC or Intel C++ compiler within Borland C++ BuilderX IDE? By the looks of the demo, it looks like even the various debuggers work the same way within this IDE.

      2. Do people really "have to" use Borland libraries for cross-platform projects? Why can't they simply use something like wxWindows or any other cross-platform library supported by the compiler of choice?

      IMHO, a tool giving developers more choices will attract rather than push away developers. The freedom to CHOOSE the development OS, CHOOSE the target OS, CHOOSE the specific compiler & debuggers,CHOOSE the cross-platform libraries, etc.

  19. Kha-ZAM!!! by mod_parent_down · · Score: 3, Funny
    Damn! I want my name to be "Jonathon Khazam". Except, I wouldn't go around saying things like:

    Borland is a leader in C++ development

    I'd be all like "Khazam!!! MS can kizziss my kizzass!" People would dig that shit in press releases.

  20. Re:C# comming by Nick+of+NSTime · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It's already out. It's called C#Builder. I have a demo of it. It's neat, but I don't see its value of Visual Studio .NET just yet. I need to spend more time with it.

  21. wxWindows support by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Anybody else notice the builtin support for wxWindows???

    Neat

  22. Eclipse? by enjo13 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Is this based on Eclipse? Borland was one of the original developers (along with IBM) who was investing in that project. (http://www.eclipse.org)

    It certainly looks like it to me.

    --
    Turn s60 photos into awesome videos with mScrapbook for all S60 3rd edition phones!
    1. Re:Eclipse? by tagevm · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Looks a lot more like it is based on JBuilder...and that would be more likely, wouldn't it?

  23. Re:More fragmentation == No Linux on the desktop! by spitzak · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Qt, GTK, tcl/tk, Fox, FLTK, all run on Windows, and are being used to develop Windows applications. For some reason "joe" has not stopped using Windows because of this.

  24. Borland's dumb licensing continues by Junks+Jerzey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    For over five years now, Borland has divided its development products into three classes: personal, professional, and enterprise. It used to be that all three had similar licenses, but each level had more features than the previous version. All were suitable for professional development. The personal edition was ~$100, the professional ~$500, and enterprise ~$2500.

    Then, a few years ago, Borland changed this scheme. The professional version jumped up to ~$1000, and the enterprise beyond that. The catch is that at the same time they changed the license of the personal version so it cannot be used commercially or to develop commercial products--even low cost products. So now you have the $100 product that's essentially crippled, and to go to the next level, just to remove that one clause from the license, you have to spend $900. That's completely ridiculous.

    Please Borland, give it up. Why should I have to pay $1000 when there are other products at half the price? The answer is "I won't." I'll buy your competitor's products.

  25. Three Primary Reasons This is Interesting by SilentMajority · · Score: 3, Informative
    Three most interesting bits found within all the marketing crap (emphasis/bold added by me)http://www.borland.com/cbuilderx/pdf/cbx_datash eet.pdf:

    1. C++BuilderX development environment runs on Windows, Linux, and Solaris

    2. Tight integration between C++BuilderX and multiple industry leading C and C++ compilers -- Borland C++ for Windows, Intel 32-bit compilers for Windows and Linux, Microsoft Visual C++ 7.1, Sun Forte C++, Metrowerks C++ and the GNU C++ Compiler Collection -- keeps you in control of your technology decisions.

    3. C++BuilderX is designed to simplify the concurrent management of source code through tight integration with Borland(R) StarTeam,(R) an automated configuration and change management system, as well as Concurrent Versions System (CVS), Rational(R) ClearCase,(R) and Microsoft(R) Visual SourceSafe.(R)

    1. Re:Three Primary Reasons This is Interesting by ltkije · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Three most interesting bits found within all the marketing crap (emphasis/bold added by me)

      [snip!]

      From the details, it looks like this latest BCB is in part Borland's answer to Eclipse.

  26. That's what wxWindows is for by Nicolay77 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    'nuff said.

    --
    We are Turing O-Machines. The Oracle is out there.