The new Firebird V1.5 Quick Start Guide is now available for download. (.pdf)
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
Firebird V1.5 Quick Start Guide
From borland news: "Help required - have you any advice or views for moving away from VB6"
John Schirn wrote:
> I'm looking to make a move away from developing in VB6 to either
> Delphi (7 or 8?) or C# - any experience that you have had that
> would help me judge the implications of the different options
> would be much appreciated.
>
> I currently develop in VB6 (6 yrs), with previous background in
> Clipper 5.2 (5 yrs) - systems developed range from 3-tier
> multi-user using an MS-SQL database to desktop stand-alone
> applications using an Access database. Have developed a number of
> standard components/routines that re-use between projects, and
> make use of features such as objects/implementation.
>
> The way ahead seems very unclear - currently considering the pros
> and cons of, but not necessarily restricted to, Delphi, Borland
> C# or Studio.Net (either VB.Net or C#). I have browsed various
> articles and discussion groups and it seems that when comparing
> Delphi (7) and VB6 there was a lot of support for the Delphi case
> (that did make me think maybe I should have gone Delphi instead
> of VB back in the mid 90's! - but I didn't and now have a lot
> code/experience in VB). I haven't yet though found a thorough
> review comparing Delphi 8 (.Net compatible) with VB.Net and/or
> C#.Net - although I expect a lot of VB developers are currently
> in the same position as me.
>
>
>
> It seems I'm going to come up against a learning curve either
> way, I want to be confident that after putting in the effort I
> will:
>
> a.. Learn a language/development environment that promotes well
> structured code and facilitates sensible re-use of code within
> and between projects b.. Produce applications quickly without
> re-inventing the wheel every 5 minutes
> c.. Produce applications that are robust and easy to use
> d.. Use a language/development environment that looks set to
> have strong on-gong support and be regarded as a primary choice
> well into the next generation of Windows.
> e.. Apps that are easy to install/upgrade on variety of spec/OS
> version machines (at least different versions of Windows!).
> OK a lot (if not most) of what creates the above qualities is
> independent of the language itself - but some languages can make
> it more likely than others!
>
>
>
> It seems that many of the advantages that Delphi had over VB6
> have been addressed to some extent with .Net (inherited forms for
> example) - what advantages does Delphi 8 have over VB.Net or
> C#.Net? Or should I be seeing a non-.Net Delphi 7 as a medium
> term option?
>
>
>
> Specifically what I would like to know is, does anyone with
> experience of both Delphi 5, 6 or 7 and Delphi 8, and some
> knowledge of what C# and/or VB.Net have to offer, have a view on
> the merits of either option?
>
> a.. Is Delphi 8 only for use with MS Windows .Net operating
> systems? b.. Is Delphi code portable between Delphi 7 and 8
> (either way)? c.. Has C#/VB.Net caught up with Delphi (e.g. in
> ease of use and design-time functionality of form inheritance?)
> d.. Can Delphi 8 code/applications be compiled for non-windows
> operating systems - Is there any similar option for C#/VB.Net?
> e.. Can third party .Net controls be used with non windows
> forms (VCL?) and for non-windows operating systems?
> f.. Is Delphi 7 case sensitive (for variable names etc.)? Is
> Delphi 8 case sensitive (for variable names etc.)
> g.. What is the learning curve for C# compared to Delphi for an
> ex-VB programmer?
> Am I missing any important factors to consider?
>
>
>
> I would be very grateful for any view on these questions.
>
> John S
A Custom Places Bar
From http://blogs.teamb.com/deepakshenoy/
"Another Open Dialog Customization: I found out from Dino's Article on MSDN that you can customize the links on your File Open Dialog boxes, even on a Per Process Basis. I naturally had to see that in Delphi, and it wasn't too difficult. I'm not going to explain a heck of a lot here, because it's way too late to do that. Download the code here."
Monday, September 06, 2004
"US government goes on open source bender"
"US government goes on open source bender" by Stephen Shankland, "Followed by doing not very much" on Silicon.com
Programming Language Popularity: The TCP Index for September, 2004
"This article is based on information provided by Tiobe Software
Here on Developer.com, we have decided to post the TIOBE Programming Community (TPC) Index. This is just one possible means of indicating the popularity of a langauge.
In the month of September, some changes have occurred on the index that may raise a few questions. Most notably C had bumped Java out of the top spot. Less of a surprise, yet still interesting is the rise once again for Delphi/Pascal/Kylix for three more positions. It has now moved up to the number 7 postiion. Python also rose three spots, but that is less of a surprise. In looking at the delta for the past year, it is no surprise that Visual Basic and Python are the two langauges that continue to show the largest increases. Java shows one of the biggest decreases. Check back in October to see if Java's drop is a fluke or if change is in the air!"
http://www.developer.com/java/other/article.php/3403131
Unicode Identifiers
From Danny Thorpe, a Borland Chief Scientist:
I've just checked in Delphi compiler support for parsing source code identifiers that contain Unicode extended characters. Chances are good that this will appear in the next release of the Delphi products.
Read more: http://homepages.borland.com/dthorpe/blog/delphi/2004_09_01_archive.php#109425945238760731
Teaching optimization (Hardware)
A comment on an earlier optimization post mentioned hardware.
It is true that buying faster or more hardware is often a easier, and cheaper way to improve performance.But when you have more than a 100 people using the software the cumulative costs of hardware can be quite large. And secondly to use a quote: “A program will expand to fill the available memory and processor time.“A word processor loads and works about a fast as 10 years ago and I predict that it will remain about the same in 10 years. Better hardware may speed up a program but new features will slow the program down again. It is like tug of war, with neither side likely to win.
I have heard the hardware argument used, to defend sloppy, low performing code. And sometimes they are right, and quick enough is enough. But there are also programs which can alway use better performance. An example is weather prediction software. With faster software (or hardware) they will simply run more prediction cases or use calculate more data points. When I talk about optimization I am thinking about these kind of programs.
Lastly I have worked on optimization tasks with improvements of a factor ten to a thousand. That is a lot of money in hardware.
The biggest improvements are made by using smarter algorithms. And again how do find/invent these algorithm and how do I teach it to others?
GExperts 1.2
GExperts, one of the best free plugins for delphi has released a new version 1.2. More here: http://www.gexperts.org/
Friday, September 03, 2004
Happy Birthday Firebird/Interbase/GDS Galaxy
From Jim Starkey: "September 4th is the 20th anniversary of what is now Firebird. I quit my job at DEC in August, took a three day end-of-summer holiday, and began work on September 4, 1984 in my new career as a software entrepreneur. As best as I can reconstruct, the first two files were cpre.c and cpre.h (C preprocessor), later changed to gpre.c and gpre.h. The files were created on a loaner DEC Pro/350, a PDP-11 personal computer that went exactly nowhere, running XENIX. Gpre was my first C program, XENIX was my first experience with Unix, and the Pro/350 was my very last (but not lamented) experience with PDP-11s."
100% Defect free vs. Reality.
Is it possible to create 100% bug free software? Theoretically, I suppose it is possible. But then again, how would you know if you've actually acheived it? Design, specs, pre-conditions, post-conditions, unit-testing, test cases, metrics, audits, are all designed to mitigate the introduction of software defects. Unit-testing is designed to break down a problem into managable pieces with test cases that are tailored to that one little bit of code. The idea is that if you have well designed test cases that thoroughly cover a particular domain and all those tests pass, when you begin putting all these pieces together, you run less risk of introducing more defects because each “unit” is solid. This philiosophy is core to XP (Extreme Programming).Read more at http://blogs.borland.com/abauer/archive/2004/09/02/1219.aspx
Thursday, September 02, 2004
Open Workbench, Free Alternative to Microsoft® Project
This morning I received following mail:
Open Workbench Source Code Now Available
Thank you for visiting www.OpenWorkbench.org and requesting notification when the source code for Open Workbench would become available for download.
Niku Corporation (www.Niku.com) proudly announces that the Open Workbench source code is ready for downloading at www.SourceForge.net.
The source code release is a newly improved version of Open Workbench called version 1.1rc3. This version of the software contains an extensive list of improvements to the existing product, such as an enhanced ability to import Microsoft® Project schedules into Open Workbench. This 'release candidate' will allow the development community to contribute further enhancements to version 1.1 before it is certified for General Availability later this year.
Since the initial user release in July 2004, Open Workbench has topped 14,000 downloads. This burgeoning user community represents individuals from corporations, non-profits, and governments in more than 75 countries. These users have been able to deploy Open Workbench free of charge throughout their organizations and are extremely active in the Open Workbench Community Forums.
Best regards,
The Open Workbench Development Team
Niku Corporation
Some QC Bugs Fixed in Delphi 9
David Smith posted a list of QualityCentral defects he felt should have been fixed by the Delphi 7 service pack to the Borland newsgroups. Borland Senior R&D Engineer Steve Trefethen posted this reply: "I thought I'd do a bit more checking and report back on some of the progress that has already been made in D9 regarding these bugs...."
http://blogs.teamb.com/CraigStuntz/archive/2004/09/01/SomeQCFixesInD9.aspx
A Longhorn blog worth reading
Not this one, but Miguel de Icaza's comment on the recent changes. Miguel is the chief Mono hacker and deserves respect; he's an open-source champion but in some respects an admirer of Microsoft's technology (otherwise there would be no Mono). I think he makes some great points here.
My take? I'm not surprised that WinFs is slipping; it always seemed to me that there were some fundamental aspects that had not been thought through. But I think making Avalon and Indigo available for XP is a good move and really more significant than the Longhorn cuts. Developers need to target a platform that is widely available, not one that is restricted to the latest Windows release. I don't even care that much about Avalon as a specific API. I do care about Avalon insofar as it represents a better GUI framework than System.Windows.Forms. What's wrong with SWF? First performance; second, lack of scalable layout management; third, memory leaks; fourth, it's too much like the old Visual Basic in the way it encourages you to mix business logic with presentation code. Fix those things and we could manage without Avalon.
.Net Framework 1.1 Service Pack 1
Allen Bauer reports on some troubles the that .Net 1.1 SP1 are causing for Delphi 8 and C#Builder users.
Jedi Online Help
Are you a JEDI user? If you aren't, you should be. The JEDI Project has just announced an online help system for the various JEDI projects. They have started with the JEDI VCL, and plan to include all their projects eventually. The idea is that we all help to document the component set. Very cool. I've always liked the concept of immediately updatable online help. The Wiki project has been doing this sort of thing for a while.
I've always thought that it would be cool to hit F1 and have the browser popup with help directly from Borland's website. The help could be updated constantly, and everyone could get the updates immediately. In addition, it would be cool if users could add sample code, comments, and annotations to the help to improve it for everybody. That's what the JEDI folks are doing, and I applaud them. Well done.
By the way, if you haven't taken a look at the JVCL recently, you should look again. What was once a large, monstrous install of over 300 components has been broken down into more managable chunks. Pretty amazing stuff when you consider that it is free under the MPL license.
Bug Fixing and QC
Some folks seem to think that QualityCentral is a waste of time. I have little patience with such a view, as can be seen here -- where Steve Trefethen of the Delphi R&D Team has clearly taken the time to ensure that numerous QC bugs have been fixed or properly adjudicated. Kudoes to Craig Stuntz for taking Steve's newsgroup post and putting it in a nice, readable form.
As Craig correctly points out -- if you want a bug fixed, you should put it in QC.
IBReplicator news
IBReplicator Beta V2.0 is available for download and testing. Comments and feedback to the IBReplicator List
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
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