Re: Comparisons of D8 with C#/VS.NET ?

From: Lauchlan M (LMackinnon_at_NOSPAMHotmail.com)
Date: 01/12/04 

Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 23:05:34 +1000

> It's early days, but does anyone have links to comparisons of Delphi 8
> against C# / VS.NET ? (Hopefully fairly objective ones!).

There are a few reviews around (don't have links, but searching the ngs
should bring 'em up)

> Typical issues
> would include the following:
>
> Delphi language -v- C# language.

Read a C# book. You'll find it fairly easy, I expect.

> Learning curve of C# language for Delphi developers.

Not much, IMO

Of course it depends on what you mean by 'learning' . . . you can learn the
basic syntax, looping and conditionals etc and the basic stuff very quickly
and get going and using the .net framework, but learning all the
sophistication the language has to offer and its various subtleties would
presumably take longer.

But if you just want to get coding and developing applications using the
.net framework, I don;t think C# has a terribly high learning curve coming
from Delphi.

> Learning curve of .NET framework (XML, ADO.NET, Winforms, ASP.NET etc.
etc.)

Bigger. And it's a moving target. I think it's one of those things where you
learn what you need to work with today and take it from there.

But this part of the learning is portable between Delphi.NET, C#, VB.NET
etc. It is the same framework in all of them.

> Database access (MSSQL/Oracle) - what issues ?

That's the same as asking about ADO.NET above, pretty much. It's pretty much
optimised by default (particularly in VS.NET) for MS databases but there are
other paths to get high performance for other databases, from those vendors
and from Borland.

> C# -v- D8 performance

No idea. I think this is a more complex question than you suggest. For
example, a .NET application might initially take significantly longer to
start up each time an object is loaded, and then run faster each time it is
used thereafter. Which is 'faster'?

> Distributed apps - ease of development in D8 -v- C#/VS.NET.

The default solution in either case is .NET remoting. This is powerful but
ugly (in the sense that it is non-RAD).

Fortunately remobjects and kbmmw will be offering .NET versions of their
products. The remobjects one will, I believe, also be usable in VS.NET. The
greatest ease of distributed development would probably to be to use one of
these tools, whichever is most familiar to you and the way you think now.

> Developer productivity using D8 -v- C#/VS.NET.

I think it would be much the same, apart from databinding is, I believe, a
lot easier in Delphi.NET / C# Builder using the BDPs.

But at the architect level, you might find the ECO features improve
productivity and tip the balance in favour of Borland products.

HTH

Lauchlan M

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