Delphi does compile blindingly fast! I'm currently working on a C++ Builder project; looks exactly like Delphi in the IDE, has the VCL, but it's C++. My previous project, working with the same collegue, was all Delphi.
We chose C++ Builder because we thought we needed extra efficiency (which I now think was wrong). So we built stuff in C++, using templates and all kinds of goodies.
On his PIII with the lot, it takes over half an hour to recompile. It runs fine, but a half-hour compile time for a RAD project is murder.
On our previous project, an order of magnitude more complex, it took maybe 10 seconds to compile. Really!
The slow relative compile time of C++ Builder has been a big shock to us; rue the day we chose BCB over Delphi.
People familiar with both products will know that the default in BCB is to show a "Compile progress" window, to show you where compilation is up to. In Delphi, it is turned off by default. There just isn't time to display it, before compilation is finished.
From what I read on SoftwareAG's site, visual stuff was not supported (that means no activeX controls). However, if you want to port an app that talks to windows only com-objects, you could use EntireX to do that I think - you could move your delphi app to Linux and talk DCOM to the windows components.
Lots of people are going to say "why would I want to use nasty 'orrible windows stuff". Remember that heterogeneity is good for software. It protects us from viruses to some extent, and breaks monopoly power. Remember, this technology is unlikely to move Linux people to Windows ("Yay! finally I can write stuff I can port to windows!"), and more likely to move people from Windows to Linux.
--
Speaking as an experienced Delphi programmer, Kylix is very exciting. Not for porting - who cares about porting code? It's exciting because I can leverage my existing knowledge and build Linux apps. Now I am very, very likely to do so; before, I was very unlikely to.
En mass, this will mean a whole bunch of coders(quite a lot of people) suddenly looking at Linux, for serious commercial work, who would not have done so before. For Linux supporters, this would have to be a Good Thing (TM).
Also, I would councel Linux coders to have a look at Kylix when it comes out. Delphi is a beautiful, heavenly, wonderful environment for building gobsmacking applications. Before you scoff, give it a look. Those of use who liked Pascal or Modula2 at uni will find that Object Pascal is a work of art (and beats the pants off C++ as an object oriented language). Anyone who likes Java will also like the language; they are quite similar (but Delphi->Kylix makes Java development environments look just plain evil). Before I get flamed, yes, I do understand the platform independence of Java, and no, Delphi/Object Pascal does not approach that. However, if you know one, it's not such a big step to the other (I think Object Pascal is closer to Java than C++ is); worth a look, it might be a better fit to some solutions where you would have used Java.
Urm, I'm rambling. Anyway, Borland/Inprise's press says that Delphi will do wonderful things for Linux, by bringing a truly powerful RAD development environment to Linux, which they hope will lead to an explosion in apps, which might just bring Linux up to a competitive level in the world of the desktop computer. I think they might be on to something.
My employers will provide me with an upgrade from BC++ 4 to 5, so I wont be using the free version.
That said, I think this is a great move, but not good enough. The really powerful stuff in BC++ (and Delphi, which I prefer) is the IDE/VCL combination. Those component libraries (and the third party stuff available) blow competing software out of the water. Borland should have made their "Standard" (read Student) edition free, with IDE & VCL, rather than just the compiler. In the very least, it should be a LOT cheaper than it is.
I can't imagine going for the command line version of BC++; command lines are a long time ago for those evil coder sith-lords like myself who've gone over to the dark side. Still, it might help the students out there (those with over-sized consciences, anyway). That would be good for Borland/Inprise/Whatever they are now, because more people might get into their compilers.
Hopefully they'll give more stuff away for free. Anyone noticed that you can get older versions of BC++ & Delphi free on computer magazine CDROMs, complete with IDE and VCL?
I had a friend doing a TAFE course (technical college in Oz, below Undergraduate level) in Delphi, when Delphi 4 was out. They were teaching Delphi 2, which is no help to anyone. Why? Because they couldn't afford new versions of the compiler. Not many people took that course, because it sucked. The VB courses were full, of course, because the TAFE had the latest...
You really shouldn't charge teaching institutions for your compilers/ide/etc. The graduates convince their bosses to buy masses of the products they learnt on. Crazy.
(Hey, and who were those fools crying about how the comiler is useless sans debugger? Good coders, oh yeah...)
This sounds a lot like what SETI@Home and GIMPS (Great internet search for mersenne primes?) etc are doing.
Patenting this approach (the ability to use user PCs idle time as a poor man's super computer) is a really bad thing; this would give intel a technological strangle hold over the world's largest untapped source of CPU cycles.
It really bugs me, this unrealistic portrayal of computers in movies. It's just colourless, and lacking in vision. The closest I ever found to real programming, for instance, was the girl using Jurassic Park Unix (in the like-named movie).
I've been using Jurrassix for years; it's great once you get the hang of it. For a while I found flying around between my file systems a bit tricky, and I had to completely restore my system about a year back after I hit/root at full tilt. But now it's second nature. The process scheduling algorithm works much better now that it can fly around all the processes on my system and bring 'em on in to the coral, and since I got the codes for unlimited ammo in my grenade launcher, we've had no more virus problems.
You've got to compare that to those old character based OSes. Remember how they used to display about 3 cps, beeping for each character? Then suddenly you'd get hex code scrolling up at lightning speed when the system was about to crash, you'd dive for cover, and *BANG*, the monitor would explode, the keyboard would explode, damn, I've still got scars from that. sed, awk, they were good, but they're just not worth the medical bills.
Anyway, I hope hollywood can catch up to the real world. Maybe whirling fractals, virtual monsters, zombies, self evolving viruses and mesmerism enabled super AIs don't provide the colour and movement that the average Joe is looking for, but please, the odd VR suit, or maybe telepathic workstations... a little reality is virtually too much to ask it seems.
Slashdot Mirror
Delphi does compile blindingly fast! I'm currently working on a C++ Builder project; looks exactly like Delphi in the IDE, has the VCL, but it's C++. My previous project, working with the same collegue, was all Delphi.
We chose C++ Builder because we thought we needed extra efficiency (which I now think was wrong). So we built stuff in C++, using templates and all kinds of goodies.
On his PIII with the lot, it takes over half an hour to recompile. It runs fine, but a half-hour compile time for a RAD project is murder.
On our previous project, an order of magnitude more complex, it took maybe 10 seconds to compile. Really!
The slow relative compile time of C++ Builder has been a big shock to us; rue the day we chose BCB over Delphi.
People familiar with both products will know that the default in BCB is to show a "Compile progress" window, to show you where compilation is up to. In Delphi, it is turned off by default. There just isn't time to display it, before compilation is finished.
Emlyn
Apparently you can do DCOM, or a passing equivalent on Linux, using EntireX from SoftwareAG. And it is free.
2 9.shtml
http://web.slashdot.org/articles/98/12/15/13242
From what I read on SoftwareAG's site, visual stuff was not supported (that means no activeX controls). However, if you want to port an app that talks to windows only com-objects, you could use EntireX to do that I think - you could move your delphi app to Linux and talk DCOM to the windows components.
Lots of people are going to say "why would I want to use nasty 'orrible windows stuff". Remember that heterogeneity is good for software. It protects us from viruses to some extent, and breaks monopoly power. Remember, this technology is unlikely to move Linux people to Windows ("Yay! finally I can write stuff I can port to windows!"), and more likely to move people from Windows to Linux.
--
Speaking as an experienced Delphi programmer, Kylix is very exciting. Not for porting - who cares about porting code? It's exciting because I can leverage my existing knowledge and build Linux apps. Now I am very, very likely to do so; before, I was very unlikely to.
En mass, this will mean a whole bunch of coders(quite a lot of people) suddenly looking at Linux, for serious commercial work, who would not have done so before. For Linux supporters, this would have to be a Good Thing (TM).
Also, I would councel Linux coders to have a look at Kylix when it comes out. Delphi is a beautiful, heavenly, wonderful environment for building gobsmacking applications. Before you scoff, give it a look. Those of use who liked Pascal or Modula2 at uni will find that Object Pascal is a work of art (and beats the pants off C++ as an object oriented language). Anyone who likes Java will also like the language; they are quite similar (but Delphi->Kylix makes Java development environments look just plain evil). Before I get flamed, yes, I do understand the platform independence of Java, and no, Delphi/Object Pascal does not approach that. However, if you know one, it's not such a big step to the other (I think Object Pascal is closer to Java than C++ is); worth a look, it might be a better fit to some solutions where you would have used Java.
Urm, I'm rambling. Anyway, Borland/Inprise's press says that Delphi will do wonderful things for Linux, by bringing a truly powerful RAD development environment to Linux, which they hope will lead to an explosion in apps, which might just bring Linux up to a competitive level in the world of the desktop computer. I think they might be on to something.
Emlyn
My employers will provide me with an upgrade from BC++ 4 to 5, so I wont be using the free version.
That said, I think this is a great move, but not good enough. The really powerful stuff in BC++ (and Delphi, which I prefer) is the IDE/VCL combination. Those component libraries (and the third party stuff available) blow competing software out of the water. Borland should have made their "Standard" (read Student) edition free, with IDE & VCL, rather than just the compiler. In the very least, it should be a LOT cheaper than it is.
I can't imagine going for the command line version of BC++; command lines are a long time ago for those evil coder sith-lords like myself who've gone over to the dark side. Still, it might help the students out there (those with over-sized consciences, anyway). That would be good for Borland/Inprise/Whatever they are now, because more people might get into their compilers.
Hopefully they'll give more stuff away for free. Anyone noticed that you can get older versions of BC++ & Delphi free on computer magazine CDROMs, complete with IDE and VCL?
I had a friend doing a TAFE course (technical college in Oz, below Undergraduate level) in Delphi, when Delphi 4 was out. They were teaching Delphi 2, which is no help to anyone. Why? Because they couldn't afford new versions of the compiler. Not many people took that course, because it sucked. The VB courses were full, of course, because the TAFE had the latest...
You really shouldn't charge teaching institutions for your compilers/ide/etc. The graduates convince their bosses to buy masses of the products they learnt on. Crazy.
(Hey, and who were those fools crying about how the comiler is useless sans debugger? Good coders, oh yeah...)
Patenting this approach (the ability to use user PCs idle time as a poor man's super computer) is a really bad thing; this would give intel a technological strangle hold over the world's largest untapped source of CPU cycles.
Is this really as damned scary as I think it is?
I've been using Jurrassix for years; it's great once you get the hang of it. For a while I found flying around between my file systems a bit tricky, and I had to completely restore my system about a year back after I hit /root at full tilt. But now it's second nature. The process scheduling algorithm works much better now that it can fly around all the processes on my system and bring 'em on in to the coral, and since I got the codes for unlimited ammo in my grenade launcher, we've had no more virus problems.
You've got to compare that to those old character based OSes. Remember how they used to display about 3 cps, beeping for each character? Then suddenly you'd get hex code scrolling up at lightning speed when the system was about to crash, you'd dive for cover, and *BANG*, the monitor would explode, the keyboard would explode, damn, I've still got scars from that. sed, awk, they were good, but they're just not worth the medical bills.
Anyway, I hope hollywood can catch up to the real world. Maybe whirling fractals, virtual monsters, zombies, self evolving viruses and mesmerism enabled super AIs don't provide the colour and movement that the average Joe is looking for, but please, the odd VR suit, or maybe telepathic workstations... a little reality is virtually too much to ask it seems.