Borland Software Corp is set to build on an early lead among Linux developers, with today’s expected launch of a C++ rapid application development (RAD) environment. Scotts Valley, California-based Borland will announce version 3.0 of its Kylix RAD environment for C++. Previous versions of Kylix targeted Delphi programmers on Windows and Linux. Read the rest of the report at TheRegister.
Borland Speeds Kylix C++ for Linux Development
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Anyone knows where I can find a benchmark of this compiler vs gcc && Intel’s ?
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http://islande.hirlimann.net
I’ve used Delphi for over 5 years – for database apps, there is nothing that compares (i used VB for 3 years, which was bloody awful). If you’ve never used Borland’s db components, you’ve lost a lot of time.
Kylix is what Linux needs if it is ever to be a corporate desktop system.
BUT, even better, you can create a Delphi GUI (not a browser app), and have it connect over the internet to a Kylix Linux server running AstaIO (www.astatech.com).
This allows you to send a user 1 EXE, which is a real GUI app and not an HTML app, and connect to that Kylix middleware, which handles all the updates and edits. THe amount of code to write this is negligible. Just astounding software.
I’m doing exactly this for a client – we have nearly 500 users nationwide, hitting one server, doing updates, edits, running reports, all encrypted. This is brilliant stuff. Just mailed 1 EXE.
I have literally saved them tens of thousands of dollars, as their internal IT group wanted to use ASP (or JSP’s – it doesn’t matter which), and writing any GUI in HTML would have taken MUCH longer than a Delphi GUI. And the User Interface would have been AWFUL.
This is just to give you an idea what kind of advantages you get using Borland stuff… though i am now investigating how to do similar stuff with Flash MX – very interesting things…
alex
The ability to nest assembly, easy object reuse, and easy portability between windows and linux make this a killer development platform. I use it exclusively for developing multicast and multimedia apps, and nothing comes close when you compare tradeoffs between various languages. Especially if you have to do rapid development where junk like VB is not an option. It also benefits from some excellent object libraries developed by 3rd parties.
I love Delphi and used it for a couple of years before C++Builder came out. I’ve been using C++Builder for creating custom Windows desktop apps ever since. I am glad that I’ll now be able to use one of my favorite development tools under Linux as well.
Klix 1.0 was, and I sure would like to try it out in class (being a poor student who dislikes GNU C++)
So does this mean that Kylix will be C++ only from now on? No more Delphi/Pascal versions ?
This is actually one of the things I’ve been waiting to try out as soon as they release a distro with KDE 3 and Gnome 2 as part of the default install
But, I’m not a real big fan of C++. (Yes, I admit it .. I’m too stupid to ever really learn it!)
Well kylix 3.0 isn’t avaliable for download yet. Their linux c++ compiler isn’t available yet either. Thats no fun.
In this instance, benchmarks don’t really pertain. When compiling the native Object Pascal, the compiler is blazingly fast (just like all of Borland’s Pascal compilers). When compiling C++, like C++ Builder for Windows, it compiles pretty much like any standard C++ compiler, re: SLOW! What makes it killer is the click-and-run capability that only a RAD tool gives the developer.
Darius posted: “So does this mean that Kylix will be C++ only from now on? No more Delphi/Pascal versions ?”
The answer to that is a resounding NO! What it means is that it will give you the best of both worlds (Object Pascal, aka: Delphi and C++, aka: C++ Builder) in one package! With Kylix 3, you will be able to compile Object Pascal and/or C++ code!
(I’ve just convinced my wife that I need to spend the $129.00 to upgrade, even though we just upgraded to Kylix 2 a short while ago 🙂
Thank you Borland!
Can someone give a good, non bias comparison between delphi and vb?
If delphi is so good, why does everyone use vb?
“Can someone give a good, non bias comparison between delphi and vb? ”
Hmm, I think that’s like asking someone to give you a non-biased comparison between Windows and Linux .. good luck
Seriously though, I’ll give you my views, even though my background comes from VB6 (not VB.NET) and I’ve only played with Delphi a little.
It seems that Delphi is indeed the faster and most powerful than VB (at least VB6 anyway), as it utilizes Pascal behind the scenes instead of Basic. As a result, it’s also a little harder to get a handle around if you’re coming from a VB background, but probably not as much of a problem if you’re versed in C++ and certainly not a problem if you know Pascal.
One very nice thing about Delphi is that you can (unless they changed it) build applications and distribute them as a single .exe file; no having to bundle 5MB+ of OCX/DLL files with your applications as you have to do with VB.
One of the main gripes I’ve heard about VB from Delphi users is that VB is not (or at least was not) a true OOP language, though I think VB.NET may have changed this.
In spite of all that, I chose to stick with VB because I was already pretty familiar with VB at the time I found Delphi.
However, I will soon be making the transition from VB6 as soon as I finish with the current project I’m working on, and can’t decide whether to make the jump to VB.NET, C#, or Delphi/Kylix. Java is pretty much a waste of time, since I am more into programming client-side apps than anything else
Anyway, keep in mind this is all from a Delphi novice’s point of view here.
What kind of support does delphi have for multithreading? No need to mention VB’s multithreading support since it doesn’t have any. And the timer doesn’t count.
“no having to bundle 5MB+ of OCX/DLL”
I wrote a 220k app in VB6. After i made the installer with all the dependencies, it was 11MB. Where are you getting 5MB from?
VB6 is ok if you’re learning to code. Well, even then, not really, since it has neat features like bastardized class modules which aren’t even OO, so even though it is easy the principles are incorrectly represented.
Non-optimized tests (string searching, array ops, buffer ops, etc.) of Delphi vs VB6 typically will place Delphi at 50-500x faster than VB6 code.
I can’t say anything about VB.NET, but it would be almost a given that the sloppy VB6 principles (pseudo-OO, etc.) would be taken over from VB6 to VB.NET by novice programmers.
Last, VB6 is ofcourse single-threaded. You can’t create thread pools or anything else — its not supported. If you’re crazy enough, you can hack at WinAPI to get a thread going, which is rather stupid IMHO.
If you don’t *absolutely* have to use VB6 — don’t!
You can either use the WinAPI (handle everything yourself), or use Delphi’s TThread class. Instantiate it, override the methods where need be, and away you go. You have support for criticalsections, mutexes, semaphores, and synchronization with visual components. Add thread pooling to this, and you can pretty much do anything. If you don’t want to touch either of these, you can always download a VCL thread manager /thread object (www.torry.net has dozens), and throw it on a form.
I’d personally suggest the tthread. Simply because you have portability between Linux and Windows (vs using the WinAPI).
actually, from what I heard vb.net is a huge jump from vb 6 since vb.net needs to fulfill all requirements for the .net CRT.
This mean vb.net must support proper multithreading, etc. Also supports a more true OO style with inheritance, polymorphism, etc. It’s pretty much a new language, it’s just the syntax that’s the same. Suppose it’s good if you done vb before, but it still gonna be a huge step. If you’re new to programming you might as well start of with c# instead I suppose.
me? I’ll stick to c++ and java 😉
actually, from what I heard vb.net is a huge jump from vb 6 since vb.net needs to fulfill all requirements for the .net CRT.
This mean vb.net must support proper multithreading, etc. Also supports a more true OO style with inheritance, polymorphism, etc. It’s pretty much a new language, it’s just the syntax that’s the same. Suppose it’s good if you done vb before, but it still gonna be a huge step. If you’re new to programming you might as well start of with c# instead I suppose.
me? I’ll stick to c++ and java 😉
I’ve been using C++Builder for almost 3 years now, and I must say it’s a pretty good framework. It is true that the DB widgets facilitate things a lot. Beside, Borland Delphi Complier is pretty impressive : faster than everything else I’ve used before. OTOH, the C Compiler seems sluggish, but is ok when comparing it to VC. The only thing that I really hate about Borland stuff, is the lack of tolerance to segmentation fault in debugged apps. I remember losing all my debugging session (IDE crash) several times because of bugs (Null pointer access or stuff like that). Well, I guess I should try to make better code anyway
The open edition for version 2 of Kylix is available, as was the version of K1.
I would assume that the OE of K3 will be available at some point following the actual release of K3.
Perhaps in the late 80s, when most people were still using very primitive langauges and editors, a C++-based environment with a couple pretty features could be qualified as a RAD. However, now a days, with many options for tools that actually deliver rapid app development, a C++-based tool just doesn’t fly.
Delphi, yes. But no matter how nice the environment is with this Kylix/C++, you still would have to deal with the abomonation that is the C++ language.
What kinds of libraries does this come with? Is it just an editor/debugger/gui designer for C++, with the expectation you’ll use the STL? Or does it come with a huge set of libraries that might make this closer resemble a RAD environment?
Too bad there’s no Kylix/Delphi for Linux/PPC. I’d love to try it out, even though I’ve not touched Pascal for almost 10 years. People talk very highly of Delphi, and many users act like it’s truly out of this world. However, maybe they all came from using VB and C++, which, according to my reading, are the kinds of developers who switched to Delphi and were amazed. Not hard coming from C++ or VB though.
Yes – you can also distribute any VB 6.0 application as a single, solitary .EXE using Bit-Arts’ Fusion tool:
http://www.bit-arts.com/fusion.html
Bit-Arts is a UK company, BTW. Fusion has gotten really good reviews and has a good reputation. Pretty much everything Bit-Arts does is very solid and excellent quality.
I’m not saying that (classic) VB could ever be as good as Delphi/Kylix, I just want to point out that this capability is available if you are looking for it.
$200 for a linker… or you could BUY Delphi/Kylix for the same price.