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Jan Holst Jensen2 wrote: So in that respect WinForms and WPF is legacy too
I actually totally agree with that statement.
Desktop development is now legacy. And, I actually understand it a bit too, since the desktop is now passe. I run Ubuntu 20.04 and only use Win10 through remote session/VMs to do work at job.
THe only thing I cannot do on Ubuntu is...win10 desktop development (which we do at work).
Not trying to be a Linux fanboy, just interesting. And, honestly Ubuntu uses less ram, runs less background processes that eat my processor, etc. Just lighter-weight than Win10.
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I also like Linux and use it quite a bit. When on Linux I use LibreOffice, GIMP, QtCreator, GEdit, Atril document viewer, SimpleScan ... and sometimes a browser. So mostly Desktop applications  .
But hey - I am over 50 so I am legacy myself  .
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Our main application was written over many years in Delphi v5 (yes version 5). This is now being converted to WPF.
We have the complication that the WPF .Net code has to integrate with Delphi and open in MDI windows within the main Delphi application. 
Eventually all the Delphi screens and functionality will be rewritten and we will switch over to a complete .Net application. Still many screens to be done. 
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I still maintain some programs written in Delphi 5 ...
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Funny, I just finished upgrading to Delphi Sydney (10.4)...
It is still simply the best GUI development experience I've had.
The remaining components are pretty rock solid.
The Clients still enjoying the software. One product is literally 20 years old, just got a facelift!
And about the book. FMX is the Alternate to VCL. It is cross platform, so it runs on android, MAC, iOS and windows... One set of controls...
This is LITERALLY a 2021 topic, is it not?
One code base, trying to hit every platform.
And call MSFT Press, tell them Xamarin needs a book published
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Kirk 10389821 wrote: And call MSFT Press, tell them Xamarin needs a book published
I think the reason they haven't published a Xamarin book yet, is because Xamarin is still not complete itself*. 
*This was an intentional troll for all those (5 or less**) Xamarin devs out there
**This was a secondary (and uncalled for) troll to the Xamarin devs.
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Kirk 10389821 wrote: The Clients still enjoying the software. One product is literally 20 years old, just got a facelift!
2Brightsparks?
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Mark,
I don't get the reference. I searched it, it comes back some Backup/Sync software.
For the Record: SQLite Expert (Free and Pro) Are Delphi apps kept current. Works well, skinned.
TreeSize (Free and Pro) I use all the time to see where my drive space is wasted! (Delphi).
But it appears to be fading. Although my current upgrade project is such a pleasure to work with.
I used Visual Form Inheritance, and was able to Adjust the "DBGridToXlsx" in one spot for every place it was used, so all grids save to the newer versions of XLSX with color coding options, etc. Lightning fast.
I also realized I upgraded 3 other components, and 5 versions of Delphi [It's been ~6 years since working on the code], and it was all rather clean and easy.
The EXE Size is my biggest complaint these days. Delphi used to produce a product we could ship on a single floppy. Now the EXE Sizes are approaching 30MB. At least I don't have to worry about DLLs.
Oh, my other complaint is the FPC and Lazarus. Because it has splintered our market so much, ALL of the 3rd party vendors left $IFDEF$ the crap out of their code to support everything.
But I have a project coming up, that needs to run on Android Phones... I am looking forward to that!
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Kirk 10389821 wrote: I don't get the reference. I searched it, it comes back some Backup/Sync software.
2Brightsparks' main product, SyncBack, is written in Delphi. I was wondering if it was them you worked for. It seems I guessed wrong.
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Sorry, this was local business software (From BDE to SQLite along the way, I wish SQLite was out when DBF Files first came about. LOL. My life would have been easier!)
And FWIW, I am doing a BeyondCompare Sync... Another Delphi Tool.
Last I checked, I had some GW-Basic code still running out there. LMAO. The one downside to writing code that works...
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Powerful and fast programming but too expensive. Take a look at Lazarus...
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Pascal/Delphi is still very active; I get newsletters from Embarcadero frequently. Visiting the sites and forums associated with FreePascal and Delphi both entertain a pretty deep audience albeit not being incredibly large like Python/C/C++ user groups they're still active & sizeable. Delphi gets annual updates every time C++Builder does unless the update is a language specific bug fix or patch.
I was unaware of that...
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I have a program written in Delphi called Code Vault
It stores all my little snippets of code that my old brain forgets
Works great for various snippets in various languages
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I miss Delphi. I have many fond memories of it. I've been writing analysis code so long that I can't even remember what it was like programming in it, except that it isn't as painful as the languages I use now for analysis.
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Why are you so surprised? Delphi was and still is IMHO the (one of the) best Windows development environment and programming languages. The only downside is that the current owners of it made it a pretty much enterprise level tool by raising the price to astronomic levels.
Mainly because of that, beside an easier cross development between Windows, Linux and macOS, I switched years ago to FreePascal, with the Lazarus IDE (and library).
Lazarus/FreePascal is mostly Delphi compatible and both are very viable tools for programming in Object Pascal...
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I use the lazarus IDE if I need a quick RAD application. It's a Delphi compatible cross platform IDE. It's got all the normal components need to easily make a RAD application.
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Yes, both Delphi 4 and Delphi 7. There are projects in both actively maintained and extended.
On same machine, compilation speed washes away anything .net. IDE is much faster than VS. Coding style prefixing types with T makes code completion much faster, far less error-prone.
VCL is much more thought out, than WinForms. You assign dialog return value to a button, not hunting buttons from the form's properties. Form description format (dfm) is much more version control system friendly. Grid customization painting (therefore scrolling) was far faster than in the C#/WinForms equivalent.
Never ever a Delphi programmer missed an else branch.
With these older releases, and falling inet packages REST and XML processing not as natural.
Database access is a good mix of SQL and ISAM. With the "with" multi-object support, query is more language-integrated than anything MS came up, except Visual Foxpro (scatter/gather memvar and human grade dynamic compilation is hard to surpass).
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I work in Delphi every day. It's still a good language. I think that is is on par with Java and .NET for functionality. Their syntax is at least similar enough that the learning curve is minimal. We've been using a Delphi EXE with both OLE embedded .NET UI components and COM .NET DLL's for over 10 years now. Works great and it's fast. The .NET code is much slower than the Delphi code.
Bond
Keep all things as simple as possible, but no simpler. -said someone, somewhere
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It's both nostalgic and amusing to see comparisons between Delphi and C#, as both are emits from the brilliant mind of Anders Hejlsberg. Anders and co. at Borland International ran rings around Microsoft products, performance- and ANSI compliance-wise, for many years. Microsoft ultimately poached a lot of talent from Borland, including Anders, which got them in some trouble, you might recall!
My observations (I'm an Old Programmer): As in other parts of the industry, Microsoft started relatively slow, then ultimately took over the market, not by delivering surpassing quality, but by gathering maximum mindshare and buying out competitors. Remember the old saying "Nobody ever lost their job because they bought IBM"? In software development that eventually became true of Microsoft.
To their credit, Microsoft eventually produced great software development tools (thanks to both home-grown and imported talent, I believe), but they started out way behind Borland in the C++ space, and never really competed in the Turbo Pascal / Delphi space, especially if you wanted to produce self-contained .EXEs free of endless dependencies. That's why they had to get Anders Hejlsberg on staff!
Our shop uses all of the above, including RAD Studio, which includes C++ Builder (still my hands-down favorite for Windows development) and Delphi. And of course we also use Visual Studio, mostly for C#, but for other reasons, too.
I don't know about the jobs market, but again, given Microsoft's mindshare stronghold, it's not surprising that excellent products like Delphi are relegated to the "also ran" category. Now in Embarcadero's catalog, it's still an excellent development environment and language, and still has the fastest compiler I've ever used (Delphi has always been magical-fast thanks to Anders' phenomenal talent for efficient design). Borland was so fanatical about the quality of the product that at one point they started developing the Delphi IDE in Delphi, one of the first times I encountered -- and immediately saw the wisdom of -- "dog fooding" it.
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I have a desktop application in VC++. besides regular software protection such as serial number etc., can manifest file be used to protect my application? such as adding checksum of files, versions of DLLs, etc...
any experience to share?
not sure if this is a good place to ask such a question...
diligent hands rule....
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Southmountain wrote: ...protect my application?
What exactly are you trying to achieve?
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles
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good question. preventing users from tampering my files?
diligent hands rule....
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Given that a manifest file is intended to be static in nature and only read (and nothing, once created on disk, should ever need to write to it), and doesn't contain a signature that would render it invalid if modified, I'd have to think you can add your own elements to it.
Whether it's a good idea to "extend" it in this fashion or not...that's another question altogether.
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your insight helps me 
diligent hands rule....
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Well ... personal experience:
How to set ANY field in system catalog using code?[^]
Leads me to believe (it's been 6 years since I've been back here) that my pasty-white liver has won the relay.
Translation of the above:
1. CP points system will make a chicken out of you.
2. Attempting to reinvent the wheel is futile.
3. The wheel in this case is ... hire a painter to be your lawyer ... and see.
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