Opinion

[Grimwaldi]

I'm looking to purchase Delphi 7 or C++ Builder 6 for developement work. I come from a Foxpro background and I'm looking for a general purpose fast developement, database tool, and used by numerous people.

Both have what I am looking for, but I can't decide on which to buy. Please give opinions?

This question has also been posted in C++ builder area.

Regards

Grimwaldi.

 

[LucieLastic]

Delphi.

Haven't used C++ builder(or Foxpro) but have written in C and it's horrible. Delphi is much easier to pick up and I write a lot of multi user DB apps. It is known that the BDE is slow but this has been superceded with DBExpress so can't comment on that, as I'm only using Delphi 5.

Not really a helpful answer, but I'm just plain and simply biased

lou

 

[Stretchwickster]

Grimwaldi,

If it's Rapid Application Development (RAD) that your looking for, then Delphi is definitely the package for you. I have quite a bit of experience in C++ and have used C++ Builder but I've always found it tricky to create anything graphical using C++ as it is quite complicated to implement graphical user interfaces (GUIs). In comparison, Delphi is easy to understand and easy to use for implementing GUIs. Another advantage of Delphi is that it's very quick to learn and pick-up. I am at a competent level after just 3 months. I haven't done any database stuff in either language so can't help you there.

Hope this helps,

Clive

 

[TonHu]

Grimwaldi,

Comming from a Clipper (xBase) background, like you do, I happily picked up, and cross-used, Delphi from version 1 and never even though longer than 1 minute to switch to something unreadable as C or C++ ;-)
I even created a tool to open a Word document from a Clipper app, and return to the DOS-box afterward ;-)
Your 'Foxy' background should give you a headstart, as Delphi is Object Pascal and Pascal was originally designed for teaching people to write computer programs in the first place, and Foxpro is, like any other xBase, a function oriented programming environment.
Want my advice? Go for Delphi, 100 %.

Yes, I know of 1 'drawback' hurdle I had to pass, and that's databases, but if you grab something better than the included BDE (Borland Database Engine), like MySQL or some other SQL based or ODBC database, you almost can't go wrong.
Another big plus: Need a component? (aka Function) Free, shareware or commercial? I estimate that there are at least 1 million separate components available and about 30% with sourcecode included s-) Happy programmin'

The C++ guru's are probably trying to convince you to go 'their way', but then you really must like 'buying wheels, a frame, steer and sadle to build you a nice bike' instead of putting 'a bike with an 18 speed gearbox on the push of only 1 button' in your applications, you only have to select the color, but that's the hard part ;-)

Yes, I'm also pulling you over, but into the Delphi camp ;-)

HTH,
TonHu

 

[svanels]

C is unreadable compare the loop construction:

for (n=1;n<m;n++) MyStuff C

for n=1 to m do Mystuff Delphi/Pascal

Programming in C is as horrible as using logical functions in Excel Steven van Els
SAvanEls@cq-link.sr

 

[nvb]

Depends on what you want to do! C can be extremely handy. I agree that it is sometimes cryptic to read, but once you get the hang of it, it is fine. Remember, when moving to Linux, you will have to learn to read C, since the shell is in C, and scripting (and even commands) are in almost pure C. Does this mean that I promote C? No ways, for RAD Delphi/Kylix stays top of the range, but don't throw away C! Cheers,
Nico

 

[svanels]

C has his place like a computer language, but until know I never needed to use it, the little knowledge of C I have helps when I am examining some script, but the day that I have to switch from Pascal/Delphi to C to achieve some thing still has not come yet. A long, long time ago in the DOS days, I made a program for making Icons with mouse clicks totally in turbo pascal. I was triggered by some idiot insisting that the mouse only could be controlled with C. The guy's computer did not even had a mouse!!!
Steven van Els
SAvanEls@cq-link.sr

 

[LorenPechtel]

Unless you are writing things other than .EXE's it's hard to go wrong with choosing Delphi.

 

[earlrainer]

Delphi Rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Fluke026]

When I was a student, we had a few classes where each student wrote the assigment programs in their choice of languages. In classes like that, only twice did I not choose Pascal/Delphi. The two projects were for the operating systems class. I did have a good reason, too. All our programs had to be compiled on the Sun/Solaris server, so Delphi was out. I started to write the program in D as a console app to port over to the Sun, but I saw the program was going to be much easier to write using OO. Since I wasn't sure if the Pascal compiler on the Sun had OO extensions, I wrote in C++.

Another quick story from another &quot;choice language&quot; class (Intermediate Data Structures). One girl in the class came in the day assignment #2 was due bragging about how she had written the shortest program of anyone in the class at 630 lines of C. I informed her that she had not, my Turbo Pascal program fulfilled the assignment requirements in only 537 lines. She grabbed my hard copy saying, &quot;That isn't possible! C is always shorter than Pascal.&quot;

&quot;Not this time.&quot;

 

[garwain]

At college I studied C/C++ and still use them a lot when working in linux, but for windows RAD, my first choice has been Delphi since about 10 minutes after I installed it for the first time (hey I needed time to read through part of a tutorial to pick up the syntax...)

I tried C Builder a while back, and tossed the CD somewhere near the back of my desk, and haven't re-located it to this day. I'm sure it's a good IDE, but it just strike me as an interface I wanted to deal with day in and day out. This was a few years back, and I'm sure it's advanced quite a bit since then, but my first look at it was a disappointment.

hey, you asked in a delphi forum, good luck getting a vote for C Builder here... I'm sure the guys in the C Builder forum are giving you just the opposite info. I'd suggest grabbing the demo version of delphi off their web site, and C builder is a demo is available, and compare them yourself to see which one you like better.