Re: Disadvantages of Delphi.NET

From: Derek Davidson (derek.davidson_at_REMOVEenterpriseblue.co.uk)
Date: 08/20/04 

Date: 20 Aug 2004 06:30:47 -0700

Bob Dawson wrote:

> And as an instructor you had a problem explaining that 256Mbs was
> insufficient for a modern IDE?

No. But your tirade against the environment is, I think, mis-placed and
I don't intend to be diverted by it.

>> 2. Delphi 8 would occasionally lock for no apparent reason and the
>> system would need to be re-booted.
>
> I've had vs do the same.

Me too. But nowhere near as often.

>> 3. [...]They
>> took the view that as they would have to re-write parts of it, may
>> as well do it 'once off' and do it in C#)
>
> And as an instructor you didn't find this an extremely ignorant
> attitude and attempt to amend it?

No - not at all. I think they had very valid points. I've only
scratched the surface of what they said. There's much more background
to this. They also said (I'm paraphrasing):

"Can't Borland see that if we, as developers, are seriously considering
moving our development to another IDE and language, and are seriously
considering giving up the years of experience we have in Delphi, that
there must be something *VERY* wrong with their approach?"

>> 4. No support for PDA's, WAP apps etc.
>
> This was news?

To them? Sure. Why does this surprise you?
 
> And you had no work around prepared? No little give-away program as a
> part of the class?

Sure - I'd taken Cassini with me. But the guys argued that their final
apps would go live against IIS and so that was what they wanted to code
against.
 
> Your students discovered independently they could now write functions
> called 'begin' or 'to' (something not previously possible at all) if
> they really, really needed to (because it's a really, really bad idea
> unless interop with other .NET languages forces it), and then choked
> on the fly '&' requirement?

No - you're getting a lot of exercise here jumping to conclusions, Bob.
They didn't like the fact that they had to precede existing .NET method
names (such as 'To', 'Begin', 'Create' etc) with ampersands to
de-conflict with the Pascal reserved words.

> Pardon me for pointing out that major new technologies have ALWAYS
> appeared in the premium SKUs. Surprised this answer didn't occur to
> you. You say these were experienced developers?

You're sarcasm leaves me in little doubt that no answer would satisfy
you. But for the benefit of lurkers, these were *very* experienced
developers that had been using Delphi for a *very* long time.

> Hmmm--I can tell the differences--you couldn't point them out?

I'm quite aware of the differences and am quite able to point them out.
You might want to turn this into a critique of my teaching skills, but
I'm not going to get involved. I'm much more interested in Borland
reaching out to developers and fixing things.

> I'll look forward mildly to getting that in Delphi next version, but
> truthfully I don't feel the lack. What was it exactly that they found
> this prevented them from achieving?

This wasn't a technical loss. They simply wondered why the Delphi
developers couldn't be bothered to provide it. It's a neat feature
after all.

> Borland has always had a pretty good refund policy

They'll be delighted to hear that.

> but frankly from
> your synopsis I'd be looking for a refund from you.

I consider myself fortunate then that you were not one of the delegates
and that those that were had a much more positive perspective on the
course, material and instructor.

> It looks to me like you're simply spreading venom.

Oh, I'm angry all right. But what I stated in my opening post in this
thread is all factual. If that makes uncomfortable reading - go ping
Borland and stop shooting the messenger.
 
> Delphi is far from perfect, but I use it because I'm more productive
> in it than in any other IDE, and quite frankly I enjoy what I do
> tremendously.

I agree as regards D7. Let's be absolutely clear here - I'm talking
about D8. You are aware of that aren't you?

> I won't build up the kind of apparent resentment and
> spite that your posts seem to indicate.

Maybe you just don't care enough, Bob?

> Life is short, and there's no
> sense spending your day in an environment that pains you.

But I don't. I don't use D8 day to day (I use D7 and VS.NET). I
certainly never paid for D8. What pains me is hearing from developers
that *have* paid for it and then find out for themselves that things
are not so rosy. 

-- 
Derek Davidson
http://www.enterpriseblue.com
For the world's EASIEST Help Desk software
Now Verified for Microsoft Windows Server 2003

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