Prepare for Kylix: The Compiler and RTL

Borland/Inprise Web site has this article about Kylix - the Compiler and the RTL - what's going on, what will be in the Linux version, what's in and out. Developers who are planning to port applications from Windows to Linux (and vice versa?) would love this article. You may also want to take a look here if you don't know much about Kylix.

"Professional" tools?

The results of the survey indicate that developers are seeking RAD, database enablement, and GUI design - all strong evidence that Linux is ready for mainstream professional application development.

I, for one, find these kinds of statements by Borland insulting. Linux has "mainstream professional development tools" (Emacs, GNU C/C++, etc.). Those are the kinds of tools professional developers have been using for decades, before PCs or Borland were even around.

It's not all that different from cameras: lots of people use point-and-shoot cameras for all sorts of business applications, but the true "professional" cameras are still the Nikon F4's and Hasselblads, clunky and slow by consumer standards, but they get the job done in the hands of the professionals.

Maybe Borland and Microsoft tools have grown up to be professional tools in their own right, for their own market niche (just like there are a lot of high-tech "professional cameras" now, not just manual ones). And they may get some following once more application developers move from Windows to Linux. But I haven't been holding my breath for those kinds of tools on Linux, and I doubt many current Linux developers have either.

This is going to have a huge effect on Linux

For Windows, first there was MFC (Microsoft Foundation Classes). Horrible, horrible, hacks, but the MFC DLLs ship with every Windows machine. Then Visual BASIC and Delphi came along and have generally been battling it out, with VB getting more attention.

Now Borland has a good chance of getting their libraries to ship with many Linux distributions. The result is that you can write pretty flashy UI-oriented applications and distribute them as teeny-tiny executables. Yeah, I know all about Tk and GTK and such, but Borland's stuff is much nicer. All of a sudden, Linux is going to have very nice GUI apps. Borland tech is very good; they may not be crazy hippies, but they're infinitely better than Microsoft.

Additionally, Object Pascal is a bang-up development language, even without the RAD tools. You have much less muss and fuss than C++, and the compile times for even large projects on any halfway decent machine are effectively zero. It makes gcc seem like a total 1970s dog. I'm hoping Borland will give away the command line OP tools like they have with their C compiler. I'd switch to OP for all low-level development in a second. (Strangley, many of the features of Pascal that C programmers hated back in the C/Pascal wars of 15 years ago are now in C++, most notably VAR parameters (C++ references) and function prototypes.)

What Kylix is...

From this page [google.com] cached on Google:

Project Kylix is currently planned to be a Linux component based development environment for two-way visual development of graphical user interface (GUI), Internet, database, and server applications. Plans are for Project Kylix to be powered by a new high-speed native C/C++/Delphi compiler for Linux and will implement a Linux version of the Borland VCL (Visual Component Library) architecture. The Borland VCL for Linux will be designed to radically speed native Linux application development and simplify the porting of Delphi and C++Builder applications between Windows and Linux.
The Project Kylix design was heavily influenced by the results from the Borland Linux Developer Survey, conducted in July 1999, which generated over 24,000 unique survey submissions. The results of the survey [inprise.com] indicate that developers are seeking RAD, database enablement, and GUI design - all strong evidence that Linux is ready for mainstream professional application development. The Project Kylix development environment is planned to support major Linux distributions including Red Hat Linux and the forthcoming Corel LINUX.

Borland is back!

I'm a user of Borland products since 1984. I actually used the first Turbo Pascal, v1.0. And it was amazing at the time. Imagine! Doing a complete edit-compile-run cycle in just a few seconds!

Time gone by, and Borland grew. At some time in the past they had a fairly broad line of compilers: Pascal, C, Basic, Assembler, and even Prolog! Now it's funny to think about the relation between developers and Borland at that time. A lot of developers loved Borland. They had it - fast compilers, support for several programming languages, passable editors and good libraries. Then came Windows.

I'm not sure how taht happened, but in a few months Borland lost all its momentum. And Microsoft got it right. And that was not only because of MS tactics, but MS got it right in several senses:

• Microsoft began its TechNet and similar programs. They had the best documentation available. Of course, being the sole provider of the OS helps a lot :-) Also the performance of MS compilers was being enhanced at the same time, so it was a no-brainer for the average C/C++ shop.
• On the other side, MS got Visual Basic. I know many people dislikes VB, but it was truly the first practical visual development environment. And don't tell me about Gupta SQL Windows and things like that. The design of their competitors was nice, but tools sucked. You need to factor the popularity of VBXs that allowed Joe Programmer to ship Windows apps in a few days.

Years later, Delphi (and BC++) saved Borland from bankrupt. In my opinion Delphi is another amazing feat. They got everything that was right in the VB concept, and added their own spice. Popularity grew once again. However, all of this was not sufficient to make them a viable alternative to the now gigantic MS monopoly.

Now we have a Linux version of the works. And I think that Borland can make it happen again. They know how to make it, as shown with Delphi. And I think that their entry will start a flow of activity in the Linux marketplace as not seen before. Let's face it - for a large commecial project, getting all those makefiles and dependencies right is a pain. Also most of the technical factors that were against Borland effort on the Windows market dont exist at all in Linux (see the hidden APIs). It's just a matter of getting it right once again. Given that, I think that they will have a very bright future, while helping Linux to lift one more restriction to win market share in the business side.

Prepare

While everyone is excited that a favorite development tool is coming to linux, I'm curious if anyone is thinking forward to what this will do for linux as an OS.

I've been using Delphi since version 1.0 and I can't, make that won't, imagine myself using anything else because it simply doesn't make economic sense in terms of prototype deployment, time to market, etc. I'm not entirely certain the average slashdot head truly comprehends how powerful Delphi exactly is, and how easy and mildly idiot proof it makes developing.

With Kylix will come quite a few Windows developers excited to provide their products for both OS's; but is Joe Blow linux guy prepared for the intrusion of Windows application economics and is John Doe Windows developer prepared for the linux market?

Ironically there is another article on Slashdot regarding MIDI sequencers and audio editing software; which happens to be the two things [inneraktive.com] I've developed in Delphi and am dying to get to Linux as soon as I have kylix in hand. I know several other Delphi developers that feel the same way. I honestly believe that with the release of kylix will come a serious change in the Linux landscape; and are people prepared for that?

- the sinister mister earache.

The actual information about Kylix is located...

here [borland.com] instead of wherever the main article was pointing.

Short summary sentance from the page:

Kylix is a "Linux component based development environment for two-way visual development of graphical user interface (GUI), Internet, database, and server applications."