Re: Working with other languages
- From: "Nathaniel L. Walker" <ULLComSci@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 19:29:29 -0600
Hello!
There was a C++ guy pushing like it was the only choice, a few VB folk,
myself and another Delphi user, and a few C# users.
It's a game, and since you are using an IDE that only runs on Windows, I'm
going to assume that they are probably going to use Microsoft SDKs such
as DirectX, etc. If that is the case, then it would probably be a good idea
to
stick to tools that are supported by these SDKs and Microsoft "out of the
box". After all, most of them don't have an IDE and they probably don't
want
to go through the hassle of getting their IDE working with SDKs, etc.
All the documentation for these SDKs will be primarily C/C++ (even OpenGL,
SDL, etc. will be C/C++) and C++ has a huge advantage in regards to
available
documentation. Also, by using Delphi, you make the resulting product
dependent
on a one specific toolchain. I don't think Turbo Explorer comes with a
command-
line compiler (does Turbo C++ Explorer even come with one?), so I dunno how
others will be able to actually build the source without purchasing a
license for
Turbo Pro, pirating BDS, or building using the IDE with command-line
parameters
(does the IDE do that? I'm unsure).
So we had a bit of a mixed bag.
My first thought was we should use .NET, that way we could get the IDE's
for free (I own BDS, but many don't own an IDE and could get VS Express or
Turbo) and we could possibly leverage our skills in the different
languages without having to chose just one, which had a pretty low chance
of agreement :-).
There are IDEs outside of .NET IDEs that can be had for free. I think the
biggest hickups in Express IDEs are the inability to use Add-Ons and load
packages (VS Express can add controls to the toolboxes, but cannot utilize
Add-Ons, and there are a very lot of free "uber" ones available). The
advantage
of VS Express is that you can download and install the applicable SDKs
(Vista Platform SDK and DirectX SDK) and use them out of the box. I believe
the SDK even sets up the IDE settings for #include and library search paths.
Has anyone done mixed language development before? If it went ahead
(which I honestly doubt, but the concept interests me) then the project
would need to be broken down into different parts which are linked
together to form a whole.
Mixxed language development works well in a "professional" scene because
you can assume that whoever is building the source will have access to full-
featured legal copies of the development tools. In community/open source
development you can only assume that they will be using free/open source
development tools. Turbo Editions are not good candidates for mixxed-
language development because they lack command-line tools. No one wants
to load a hefty IDE to build a DLL that is only a small part of a huge
product
(like a game). Things like that are usually built with makefiles or some
other
build system (NAnt, MSBuild, etc.).
Could DLL's in W32 do the same thing? (Delphi, VB6 and C++) or is .NET
(Delphi.NET, VB.NET and C#) the way to best achieve this?
There can be issues when trying to use DLLs compiled with one tool with code
produced with other tools. Often this is due to settings in the IDE and/or
passed
to the compiler/linker - make sure you investigate this and let everyone
know the
safe compiler/IDE switches to enable and any they should disable.
After all, every developer *should* be operating under a very similar (if
not
identical) development environment. VMs come in handy for this :)
- Nate.
.
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