Alternative Future of Delphi?

From: Eric Grange (egrange_at_glscene.org)
Date: 10/07/03 

Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2003 11:22:41 +0200

[WARNING]
If somewhat provocative, this is *not* intended as "blasphemy", but as an
alternative to the Borland-chases-compiler-technology-but-as-a-small-
company-can-only-do-so-much dilemma.
[/WARNING]

Maybe Delphi should be made into a C/C++/C# precompiler?

It would take Pascal source code, spit out C/C++/C#, then start the
relevant compiler or interpreter...
No need for clean translation here, having an ugly mess of functions
calls in the C/C++/C# output would be acceptable, output isn't intended
to be human-readable, only machine-readable (ugly as lex/yacc output
would be okay).

It would get Delphi broader cross-platform capability than what .Net or
Java could ever achieve (these two being only targets among many others),
at probably a lower development cost for Borland.
No more intricate code generation required for a particular platform
(virtual or not), no more intricate optimizations for loop optimization,
inlining, register allocation, call conventions, etc.
Only leaves a syntax checker and a brute-force template-based code generator
on the Delphi compiler side.
Let the C/C++/C# compiler take care of the complexity.
Delphi for Mac, Delphi for Java would be within reach, Delphi for PS/2 too,
Delphi for MegaSuperComputer also, and Delphi for anything would be within
reasonnable reach.

We would benefit from the best compiler technology on each platform
(Intel's Compiler for native compilation, MS C# compiler for .Net etc.).
Sure, we would get their compiler bugs too, but that's already a widely
accepted situation (aka Delphi DotNet).

C and its offsprings are ubiquitous, but even if they're as readable as a
PostScript file, they can be used as a "cross-platform DCU".

Debugging may be tricky, but there is always the option of just leaving the
Delphi code as comments in the C output and using the C-debugger, after all,
even the Delphi help is already filled with C code, so that's not the issue
it could have been anymore.
With some IDE tricks, the C code could probably be 'hidden', and the illusion
you're running a real Delphi debugger be complete on some platforms.
The Delphi IDE could be made Windows or Linux only, and use remote debugging
for the other platforms.
Leave the debug protocol open, and third parties will add support for anything
with half-decent networking capability.

Some chunks would still have platform dependencies (like the VCL), but for basic
support, all you need is the RTL, which isn't hard to base on C libraries,
and thus, can run anywhere. Having a basic level of Delphi capability on any
platform that is C-capable would already be a huge leap, and a good enough
basis for most of the server-side work.

If you have the possibility to write code that can bind to arbitrary libraries
on the target platform (via a C "passthrough" at worst), the relevant
connectivity libraries/headers to webservers, database, GUI, etc. would emerge
from the open-source community or 3rd party vendors.

Borland could concentrate on establishing base classes and frameworks (like VCL),
and implement them on a few choice platform, leaving the rest for the future,
"optional packs" or 3rd party work.

Eric

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Delphi 9 - Your Expectations
    ... there just is no practical reason for Delphi ... I doubt that Win32 will survive the next 10 years as the major Windows platform. ... At least you will write Win64 code, but then you won?t be able to use ... the code emitted by the compiler. ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)
  • Re: About VS C++
    ... Lars F. ... Here is why I am sticking with native Delphi / Object Pascal / ... Using a compiler like Free Pascal, I write once and compile everywhere. ... Cross platform has not been a need for me. ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)
  • Re: Oh man!
    ... a native code DELPHI language IDE. ... platform. ... I dont even want the IDE - just a cross compiler would be ... You could write the code using Delphi on windows and then cross compile it to any platforms supported by FPC/Lazarus. ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)
  • Re: Separate releases: Delphi 10 Win32 / Delphi 10 .Net
    ... So how do you think the Delphi for .NET compiler works? ... Programming in .NET is platform size agnostic; your apps will run on 64-bit ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)
  • Re: Which Delphi Version To Buy
    ... Given the fact that Delphi compiler is quick and small, do you see feasible having a runtime compiler/parser enabling what you describe above? ... For example the basic data types processing in Delphi is sensibly superior to .NET's one exactly because is closer to the iron. ... Well, for parallel programming I, for one, certainly feel the need of a VM simply because the actual CPU architecture is far from the way in which humans deal with the reality which is parallel. ... The vast majority of the games you have to deal with /different/ characters doing /different/ actions in parallel, responding each one to the stimuli which comes from the environment. ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)