[Lazarus] Help needed for conference...

[Graeme Geldenhuys]

2009/10/14 Mehmet Erol Sanliturk <sanliturk at ttmail.com>:
> Trying to compile a source written with Delphi specific features by Lazarus
> by using ifdef-else directives to distinguish Lazarus and Delphi specific
> parts is to generate a source which is a nightmare to maintain . To avoid
> such a structure I am thinking seriously to write Windows_for_Unix and
> Windows_for_Linux units from scratch . I think this is much easier than to
> maintain a source described above .


I would recommend you guys seriously look at only using Lazarus. What
does Delphi offer that Lazarus doesn't. And then, to be fair, what and
Lazarus offer that Delphi doesn't.

Our company switched some 5 years ago to only using Lazarus and FPC.
Haven't had any major drawbacks - in fact this are working much
better. Plus we are saving huge costs for not having to purchase
development tools every 1-2 years. In return for getting such a lot
for free (including the brilliant support form all of you), we are
allowed to work on Lazarus features ever now and again in company
time, to contribute back to the community.

To be honest, I can't really see any benefit in using Delphi these
days. Here is a small comparison - as I see it:

 - Lazarus is cross-platform, Delphi is not.
 - FPC is cross-platform, Delphi is not.
 - FPC has 64bit support, Delphi has not.
 - Lazarus IDE is easy to extend and fix, Delphi is not.
 - Lazarus Packages are brilliant, Delphi cannot compare
 - FPC's FCL is fantastic, Delphi doesn't have something like that.
 - Both can do GUI, Console and Web applications.
 - Delphi is a bit better in the debugging environment, but the new
   FPC v2.5.1 (trunk) has been some good progress in that department.
   Debugging in Lazarus IDE is a lot more usable now.
 - Bug fixes are free for FPC & Lazarus. You often need to upgrade
   to the next Delphi before you get fixes (that's IF they fixed it).
 - You can always stay current with the latest FPC & Lazarus features
   for free. You have to purchase Delphi every time.
 - Lazarus IDE is much less resource intensive. Delphi IDE is a dog.

Disclaimer:
These opinions are mine alone. In now way does it reflect the opinions
of the Lazarus or FPC developers.


-- 
Regards,
  - Graeme -


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fpGUI - a cross-platform Free Pascal GUI toolkit
http://opensoft.homeip.net/fpgui/