Re: Delphi to Visual Studio Conversion Project


Had the application been better written in the first place, it is
doubtful whether the rewrite would have happened, and certainly changing
language would not have been worthwhile.


I think you have hit it on the head on in a number of areas why
transitioning from Delphi to C# can be a good move and why people who
proclaim that "management should be sacked" for suggesting as much
problably are closer to being sacked than their managers.

The points that are most relevant to me are:

1. Delphi trails the C# language in a number of areas. I think it
finally has generics (not sure as I didn't buy D2007) which C# had
years ago. Sure there are nice things in Delphi that C# doesn't have
(collections, optional parameters) but on the whole it just seems to
be a catchup game they are playing.
2. Finally supports .NET 2 years after VS supported it. Unfortunatly
the current version is 3.5 not 2.0. I have been using the cool new MS
MVC framework recently. When can I use it with Delphi? 2 years?
3. Most Delphi apps have the database access, business logic and
presentation layer so mashed together that supporting a web interface
or mobile interface is almost impossible without major redevelopment.
So when major new features are required the organisation is forced to
rethink their whole development. Many people probably think they
writing excellent designed apps in Delphi. But anyone who has dropped
a TQuery onto a form or datamodule lately, you are responsible.

A final point that has become obvious to me is the lack of Delphi
developers. My previous employeer had to sponsor developers from
overseas as they could not find a suitable Delphi developer in
Australia. Unfortunately Delphi is just not an attractive career
option for people these days. There are many more Java, PHP (LAMP)
and .NET jobs going. Unless you have an unnatural obsession with
Delphi, choosing to focus on it for your career is not a good option.
I hope you don't have a family to feed.

There is of course one area where Delphi still excels. That is
developing Win32 apps. Apps like FeedDemon are an excellent example of
what can be done with Delphi. Unfortunately desktop apps have gone
from being the standard to the exception these days. In the
enterprises I work for I would never dream of suggesting they build a
desktop app.

Craig.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: first impression and uneasy feeling... (long)
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    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)
  • Re: A VB6 fan asks... why do YOU stick with VB6???
    ... and developers. ... I also agree that they can do far more with Delphi to ... used years ago as a teaching language and they let that go completely. ... simply because things "fit" better into the whole. ...
    (microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion)
  • Re: Lets think who will like to say delphi is dying?
    ... All important Software ist still native and will be native in the future, there is a market for delphi, they only need to pick it up. ... are using to write Desktop apps. ... I have tried every thing I could get my hands on for windows and none come as close to Delphi in terms of productivity and ease of use. ... At corporate level everywhere only those tools are utilized which have got a large following of developers and thus it is easy to find developers for that tools. ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)
  • Re: Lets think who will like to say delphi is dying?
    ... All important Software ist still native and will be native in the future, there is a market for delphi, they only need to pick it up. ... using to write Desktop apps. ... I have tried every thing I could get my hands on for windows and none come as close to Delphi in terms of productivity and ease of use. ... At corporate level everywhere only those tools are utilized which have got a large following of developers and thus it is easy to find developers for that tools. ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)
  • Re: Lets think who will like to say delphi is dying?
    ... All important Software ist still native and will be native in the future, there is a market for delphi, they only need to pick it up. ... using to write Desktop apps. ... I have tried every thing I could get my hands on for windows and none come as close to Delphi in terms of productivity and ease of use. ... At corporate level everywhere only those tools are utilized which have got a large following of developers and thus it is easy to find developers for that tools. ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)