Hi, Sorry to reply only now, a new version of the Virtual Moon Atlas take me a lot of time this last day.
My project for the next few month is to continue to add to the V3.0 the feature of the 2.75 that are still missing. This include : images, online catalog, calendar, ... I am sure that most user of the program will approve this priority, me first as I need to reboot to Windows to use some function of the old version. This work is mainly sorting out the old code and replace proprietary component by free one. As long this step is not finished I don't want to change the technical environment, i.e Delphi 6 and Kylix 3 After that we must have more freedom to select the future environment :-) Personally I like Pascal for a lot of reason: I use it since TurboPascal 3 in 1984 as my leisure language. As a consequence I have a lot of code in this language. The IDE is very easy to use with a powerful debugger. The very efficient navigation in the code and the forms explain why minimal comment are sufficient to survive. It compile really fast, just 3 second for the full CDC project. The VCL/CLX library hide all the complexity of the system specific API. All this simplicity is very important for me as I want to do more astronomy than computing for my freetime. So which environment is possible to use in the future ? A first solution is to stay with the same product, they are still working with the actual system version (I do a try with Longhorn). I have two link to download the free Delphi 6 personal compiler in the download section of http://www.ap-i.net/skychart. Kylix 3 OE is available from Borland site for free. A second solution is to upgrade to new Borland version. It seem that a free personal edition download will be available for Delphi 2005 (http://delphi.developpez.com/2005/interview/) This is less clear for Kylix, a solution is to use CrossKylix (http://crosskylix.untergrund.net/) with Delphi 2005 or keep Kylix 3 at the moment. Another solution is FreePascal with Lazarus (http://www.lazarus.freepascal.org) It already work with Windows, Linux and Mac. The IDE is very similar to Delphi but the code, and specifically the use of the VCL library, need some adjustment. A major advantage is to use an open source compiler. Switch to Java, .Net I am not sure to have the courage myself but it seem there is volunteer here :-) Sure I can help for the documentation and other task. I don't have enough experience with this environment to give a useful advice. My recommendation is to favor a multiplatform solution, it is nice if the program can run at least on Windows, Linux and Mac. Also beware of the performance, the user want a smooth display when it move the chart with the mouse across the 6GB USNO catalog! At the moment my preference is to go to Lazarus with more code cleaning and documentation, eventually a base-GUI separation. This task are more easy to split to a group of developper than the archeologist job I do this day. Patrick ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: Sybase ASE Linux Express Edition - download now for FREE LinuxWorld Reader's Choice Award Winner for best database on Linux. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=5588&alloc_id=12065&op=click _______________________________________________ Skychart-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/skychart-devel
