[Lazarus] fpweb for delphi?

[Bee Jay]

On 30 Mei 2010, at 07:30, Dimitri Smits wrote:

> and that was just in D7 already!

Does it support Linux? Kylix? What about 64 bit servers? :P

> God (and Delphi 2010 buyers) know(s) what they have in there nowadays!

Are they using those tools? No? Why?

> On the other hand, why anybody would want to develop new webapps (on new db's) in delphi or fpc for that matter seems a bit like a one-tool-in-my-toolbox mindset. "If all you have/know is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail."

I don't think so. If I need to migrate desktop apps -many of them with thousands if not millions LOC- into web apps, why should I rewrite them in a another language from scratch? So I need to retest the whole thing over again from the beginning? While I could simply change the desktop form into web page and keep the app logic untouched, well... at least most of them. Even if I need to write to a new fresh web app, why should I learn new language and framework while I could write it in pascal (more effective and efficient thus more productive) using existing and my well-tested pascal frameworks and skills? Learning a new syntax is easy but finding its tidbits does need times.

> There are other languages far more suited for webdevelopment! PHP, Perl, Ruby(-on-rails), java, silverlight.net, ...

Why are they more suited? Because most of them are scripting and managed/VM with poor performance? Why do you think pascal isn't suited for web app development?

> Especially when the client(s)/user(s) use small webhosting. While you may find that they offer php AND CGI, you may not find out the (processor)architecture or flavor of linux so that you even CAN compile your CGI, let alone run it safely on the hosting provider's machine(s).

It's not hard to ask the provider about those informations, or even maybe they're already mentioned somewhere in the docs.

> You only sometimes have (a somewhat limited) shell access to their machine anyway. And as for a "product", you need to use the greatest common denominator anyway. So that pretty much leaves you with php anyway ;-)

To deploy a CGI app is simply upload it to cgi-bin folder, nothing fancy. CGI support is standard feature on common web hosting anyway.

> And there IS a Delphi4PHP out there (from Embarcadero/CodeGears/Borland/Inprise/...). It is a graphical designer like Delphi (the IDE, not the object pascal language) that allows you to make RAD like a php application with a frontend in javascript, based on the Qooxdoo open source framework. In fact, they have reïmplemented a large part of the VCL in javascript so that you can transfer your skills in Delphi VCL (the objectpascal framework) to there without knowing much javascript.

Spend more dollars for an unfinished product? :P I don't mind spending my money on a dev tool. But it doesn't count a out-dated buggy ones.

Frontend UI is just a part of web app. Using advance JS UI framework i.e. qooxdoo, extjs, isn't hard too. You just need to learn how to use it to build your UI, no need to learn all JS programming aspects. In some ways, they're just replacement of .dfm/.lfm files.

-Bee-