quote:Original post by Iwod It may be not too poweful compared to C or C++ when programming system levels. And there seems to be less short cut code than C or C++
And the finally thing is not many people uses it.
I think you should give Delphi a try and see if those statements are true
Don''t worry about performance, there''s really not much difference (if any).
And plenty of people use it, not as many as C/C++ of course, but there are a lot of sites out there to help you learn.
I''ve used C and C++ for about 15 years and Delphi for about half that time and personally prefer Delphi. My advice would be to give it a try and if you don''t like it, you''ll have lost nothing but a little time
I''ve programmed in C/C++, Java, C# and Delphi. Turbo Pascal and ater Delphi was the first language I learned for real, and did any serious programming with.
In my opinion there isn''t a whole lot of difference between programming in one language and another. If you''ve learned one of the above, you can very quickly learn to program in any of them. The main differences comes from a couple of language features in newer languages such as Java and C#, and the libraries available for each language.
I''ve recently returned to Delphi programming from a long absence, mainly in the Java world. And even though I still like the language, I must admid that its faded a bit by comparison. I don''t mind the verbose-ness much, I always considers readability over speed anyway. But there''s some things I miss, such as for example the package notion and the ability to make a method protected at package level. Also, the garbage collection. Sigh. It can sometimes be a hassle to remember the difference between a record and a class, a dynamic array and a static array ect. with regards to memory management.
Delphi''s strongest card is without doubt the VCL. It is really nice to work with. And there''s thousands of thousands of custom components out there for a lot of stuff. MFC is a nightmare compared to VCL and Java''s SWING, although nice, is not quite as easy to deal with. The only thing I''ve found to rival it are WinForms, which is part of Microsoft''s .NET. WinForms seems very similar to VCL, like a good cross between SWING and VCL.
If you are going to do game programming with OpenGL then I would probably give Delphi a try. It''s very easy to set up OpenGL in delphi, and easy to integrate it with VCL for doing level editors and such.
If, on the other hand, you''ll be using DirectX, I think I would try downloading C# and the C# DirectX 9 SDK. C# and Managed Direct3D seems like a really attractive combination. And most likely you needn''t worry about the performance. When starting on game programming it will take a long time before you can code something big enough to really press the computer.
I know quite a bit of Java. But as i said Delphi always interest me simply because of its VCL. Now i have heard a lot about .NET but heaven''t really use it.
Now what nicba said really take me a lot of interest. C# with direct X. And winform...... Any body else has any suggestion on it or should i start another new thread on C#??
Since C# is very much like Java then it would be very easy for me to jump to it....
quote:The only thing I''ve found to rival it are WinForms, which is part of Microsoft''s .NET. WinForms seems very similar to VCL, like a good cross between SWING and VCL.
Which, btw., is based on both libraries being designed by the fsame Person. The lead designer of .NET / C# was - the guy responsible for Delphi at Borland.
quote:Since C# is very much like Java then it would be very easy for me to jump to it....
Well, only if you also know C++ :-) Otherwise you may never realize that you can overload operators in C# :-)
Regards
Thomas Tomiczek THONA Consulting Ltd. (Microsoft MVP C#/.NET)
most of the above post are true (or at least as true as any opinion based statement), helpful, informative, and not meant to be a flame ... which is literally amazing for a discussion about language preference ...
I do want to answer for whoever asked ... C++ Builder does have the exact same VCL library as Delphi (although I think the current version of Borland Builder is identical to the PREVIOUS version of Delphi, because they do not release at the same time and Delphi is the first target for all VCL additions).
There is a product called Kylix for developing linux applications ... what it really is is the linux version of BOTH Delphi and C++ Builder (I have only tried a demo once, and it seems to be a really great product, but still has some catching up to do before I''d consider it for my primary development needs - I do plan to port to linux with it).
To the person who said C++ Builder didn''t use C++ ... they we''re completely wrong ... C++ Builder is more standards compliant than Microsoft Visual C++ (in fact it is one of the most compliant mass market C++ compilers - expecially now that is uses the STL Port for it''s STL implementation.
One finaly note about C++ ... there is ONLY ONE thing that C++ has which you cannot get (or live without) from any other current, well supported language ... (kudos if you know what it is) ....
... TEMPLATES ... and they are absolutely one of the most powerfull programming strategies to ever be invented. In fact, the only reason I didn''t shift to Java or even Python for my last small programming project was this - I could write 50% of it as templates ... and reuse it for all my other work ... I know have a template library of over 40 classes, and I cannot imagine giving it up ... ever.
no .. neither C# or Java support templates, or generic programming at all ... nor do either support multiple inheiritance (but they emulate it with interfaces).
