At 01:11 pm 4/01/01 +1300, Martin Paulo said:
>Personally I would be disappointed if we were are still using the languages
>of today in 10 years time! It would mean that there had been little change
>in the computer field...
But ... I'm using the same language I used over 17 years ago - Pascal. I
started with Pascal MT+ and moved onto Turbo Pascal at version 1.0.
Your comment (I think it was you, may have been someone else) that Delphi
is to Pascal what C++ is to C is close, but not quite on the mark. Pascal
moved into an object oriented environment with Turbo Pascal 4.0. It was
still Pascal, just a growing language, like when it added overlays and
other additions at each release. Pascal made itself available to Windows in
version 7.
Simply put, Delphi is a user interface addition to the Turbo Pascal
language. When I wrote The Trader Series (largest selling small business
accounting program at the time - mid to late 80's), I was able to release
onto the market an application that spanned over a half a million lines of
code, every single line written by me. I'd like to know of anyone doing
that in C++ with only a single programmer.
I might state that in that time I have also used a myriad of other
languages including C and C++, Perl, I don't consider HTML a language,
dBase in it's varying releases, FoxPro, and Modula 2 etc.
I spent many years successfully developing in FoxPro only to find the power
of Microsoft and it's ability to kill a language through firstly attacking
at, then purchasing it, then stating they were not going to release another
version, then silence, then stating they never said that, and finally
hiding it. An excellent language that rivals Delphi in it's RAD abilities
has successfully been stood on with it's head under water by it's new owners.
No, Delphi is not dead, not like FoxPro, it has survived many years and
will survive many others. It's ability, in the right hands, to write
readable and supportable code will always win out with C++ for me.
Using Delphi, in the past year alone I have:
* helped in the development of an extremely large application (my guess
would be about 300 screens) that is used, in one single installation, by
many tens of input operators spread over many hundreds of miles,
controlling the grading, packing, storage shifting, and finally shipping
of many millions of trays of fruit, mainly over a 3 month period
* developed a complete Internet application without a single HTML file to
be seen anywhere, all Delphi code
* and I am currently programming hand held data loggers in Delphi to
access, real-time through an in-built radio aerial, the large fruit
database mentioned above, so that forklift operators and other coolstore
and packhouse staff can query the availability of pallets for loading, find
pallets for shifting, and shift and control pallets within and to/from
coolstorage, packhouses, and trucks.
Common, Delphi is not just a RAD C++, it's a development environment that
does not compare at all.
Steve
Steve Peacocke
(025) 951-251
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