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 - Best RAD tool on the marketI've always been keen on doing Windows programming rather than just stick with console programming using C++. MS Visual Basic 6.0 did allow me to do just that, but somehow it never got me going, especially with more complex functions. Then, I heard of very good reviews of Delphi and started to get myself familiar with it. What an awesome programming language! Although Delphi 5 isn't the most popular RAD tool, but its definitely the best! The Professional version provides enough functionality to build good applications using components directly out of the box. The beauty of this IDE is also the fact that there are many,many more components which can be 'plugged' into your projects, and some without having to do much or any coding/recoding, which is just great. Some even come with source codes, so that you might build upon rather than rebuild from scratch. Reusable and open source code is one of Delphi's strong points. No matter what version you might have, you could probably find some components off the web which are either freeware or shareware and is just as, or even better than some components which came with the package. All I can say is that Borland created a really awesome tool that's very easy to get used to. What about the bad points? As I'm not a professional, but rather a casual programmer, I found that compile, debugging times were just aweful compared to MS VB6. Same goes with JBuilder, just to mention it. The Run-time wasn't that great either, but who's to complain when you can drastically cut down on development time. Documentation was alright, and to tell you the truth, more books should be written about it. Goes to show that Delphi isn't mainstream compared to C++ or VB. No one should spend lots of time doing basic coding of basic features of a program unless they have to, ESPECIALLY when it takes hundreds of lines to code in C++. If you want to be involved in RAD, the Borland's Delphi 5 is your best bet, guaranteed! You get the power of C, but the ease of VB. No point 'reinventing the wheel' like they all say. However, if you feel that C++ is your strength, go get Borland's C++ Builder which sticks with the concept of visual design just like Delphi. I'm was not a Borland fan in the beginning, but now I'm giving my full support for it. Rating: - Absolutely the best Windows development systemI've been programing Windows professionally since 3.1, using C, C++, Visual Basic, and even some Fortran. There is no question that Delphi is the best Windows development enironment currently available. It combines the speed of C++ with the flexibility of VB, while avoiding the complexity of C++ and the sloppy annoyances of VB. And it's easy to learn - not as easy as VB, but _way_ easier than C/C++. Plus Borland will soon release Kylix, the Linux version of Delphi, and for the first time it will be relatively easy to port Windows apps to Linux - if the app was developed with Delphi. Rating: - The best IDE for WindowsDelphi has to be the best IDE for Windows, and certainly the best thing going for Pascal coding. Borland Delphi 5 is amazingly responsive, and works well on average hardware, compiles quickly, and has many features. A person can do in 100 lines of Delphi the same thing that takes 1000's lines in C++.
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