Thank you Jolyon. I've always appreciated your point of view. For me in
the US the decision to upgrade is either a $500 or $800 decision until
12/31. Since I don't have any "programming" income to offset that $$
it's a tough call especially if I have to also pay for one or more of
the options you mention below.
Sure wish some decisions, at least, were easy.
Thanks,
Charlie
On 11/14/2011 2:08 PM, Jolyon Smith wrote:
Yes, and yes. :)
I had been off the upgrade train since D7 but XE2 prompted me to get
back into the harness (to mix some metaphors).
My primary interest was in the iOS and (future) Android support with
only passing interest in OS X development, but - and read into this
what you will - I have since downloaded and installed X Code for
iOS/OS X and Eclipse and the Android SDK.
Delphi + VCL is still unbeatable when it comes to Win32 (and now
Win64) development, but for OS X, iOS and Android, I am increasingly
convinced that "FireMonkey" was a mistake and that a core
cross-platform VCL supported by platform native extensions for the
visual part of the VCL (along with language extensions if required - a
la the FPC approach to OS X, for example. The same approach taken
with Windows support in Delphi originally of course, with the
declarative approach to Windows message handling and the "automated"
keyword (albeit that is now deprecated)) would have been the right way
to go.
So I'd say yes - if you want to stay current with Delphi there is
value in doing so, and for some things you may find FireMonkey is a
viable solution, but for iOS / Android development my own view is that
the native tool sets for those respective platforms currently - sadly
- represent the most viable long term choices until a real contender
for the title of "Delphi for iOS/Android" comes along.
Being able to coax the likes of Prism and Delphi into emitting code
that happily runs on iOS/Android may make for some interesting
technical challenges and some sideshow fun projects, but those
approaches are destined to forever be on the fringes and the margins
of those platforms, imho.
Some would say that Delphi too exists on the fringes of the Windows
eco system, although it found itself drifting there rather than coming
in at the fringes from the outset. And this too may become more of an
issue with the apparent ground-shift coming in Windows 8, but the
extent of that on the likes of "traditional" WinXX development tools
is still largely yet to be seen.
+0.02
On 15 November 2011 01:55, Charlie <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
First thanks for the suggestions for webhosting.
Secondly, I haven't updated Delphi since RAD Studio 2007 and so if I
don't update by 12/31 and want the current version afterwards I
won't be
eligible for an update. The only customer that I had has just gone out
of business. I really like Delphi. I really don't know if I'll
ever have
another customer. I've always wanted to be a "programmer" but became a
jack of all trades in order to satisfy the needs of my customers.
It seems to me that the future is iPhones, iPads and such. So is
updating Delphi prudent? Or is now the time to persue other options?
Thank you,
Charlie
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