Kylix, Llazarus and free Pascal

Hi to all,

I'm not sure if this is the right newsgroup to post, but I need advice
about Lazarus and Free Pascal

I read in the Kylix newsgroups about all kind of troubles installing
Kylix on newer distros, so I'm consider Lazarus and FreePascal as
alternatives for Linux development.

So, if anyone has some experience with this open source tools, please
gime me an advice.

I need to use it in a large 3-tier project that support database access,
specifically to Firebird and SAP DB(formerly MaxDB) and TCP
communication between client and middle tier. I'm planning developt the
middle tier using Indy, and some kind of TDataset clon made by us. I
need to know also if FreePascal support interfaces and reference counting.

Thanks in advanced
Sergio Salazar

>
> So, if anyone has some experience with this open source tools, please
> gime me an advice.

You'd probably better have a look at the Lazarus Mailinglist

>
> I need to use it in a large 3-tier project that support database access,
> specifically to Firebird and SAP DB(formerly MaxDB) and TCP
> communication between client and middle tier. I'm planning developt the
> middle tier using Indy, and some kind of TDataset clon made by us. I
> need to know also if FreePascal support interfaces and reference counting.
>

I'd say you might have a very hard time for a project like this with
Lazarus.

I don't know about the DB-part, but Indy does not support FPC afaik.
You could take Synapse http://www.ararat.cz/synapse/ for the TCP part.
I had some strange experiences with reference counting, but might be
fixed now.


For Kylix see also:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/open-dbexpress/
http://www.devrace.com/en/fibplus/index.php
http://community.borland.com/articl...0,28371,00.html

We would be _very_ interested in hearing how you get along with Lazarus
and free pascal.

If this is not intended to be a port from a Delphi program and you would
like to use an open source tool: a friend of mine just started a project
using Python and is raving enthusiastically about the this stuff: great
language (he has done many years of Delphi programming and likes the
language even better than Delphi language) and _many_ tools (database
access, TCP/IP etc. ) .

-Michael

On 2005-02-26, Sergio Salazar <saguesa@apusoftware.com> wrote:
> Hi to all,
>
> I'm not sure if this is the right newsgroup to post, but I need advice
> about Lazarus and Free Pascal
>
> I read in the Kylix newsgroups about all kind of troubles installing
> Kylix on newer distros, so I'm consider Lazarus and FreePascal as
> alternatives for Linux development.
>
> So, if anyone has some experience with this open source tools, please
> gime me an advice.
>
> I need to use it in a large 3-tier project that support database access,
> specifically to Firebird and SAP DB(formerly MaxDB) and TCP
> communication between client and middle tier. I'm planning developt the
> middle tier using Indy, and some kind of TDataset clon made by us. I
> need to know also if FreePascal support interfaces and reference counting.

Nobody used FPC with Indy yet. However main showstopper was tthread and
related stuff like synchronize. This has been fixed recently (though fixes
are still done daily), and you there were even fixes after the last release
of last w. But a serious attempt at porting Indy could be done.

FPC supports ref counting and interfaces. Better than Delphi even, since afa
ik it supports
ref counted and non-ref counted interfaces.

Languagewise the missing parts are:
- ole/com, custom variants and several variant helpers are missing
- widestring and internationalisation in general needs a lot of work.
- dispinterface
- implements keyword

I'd say the vote would depend on how urgent it is, and how much time you are
 willing to invest.

The base stuff seems to be there, but are you willing to debug FPC and find 
and report
issues, and occasionally get parts working ?

Marco van de Voort wrote:
>
> FPC supports ref counting and interfaces. Better than Delphi even, since a
faik it supports
> ref counted and non-ref counted interfaces.
>

Delphi has supported non ref counted interfaces since the day interfaces wer
e
introduced.

Please discuss other peoples products in their forums and not in Borland's. 
 If
you want to discuss FPC or Lazerus the appropriate place is on their forums,
 not
here.  Thank you.

--
Jeff Overcash (TeamB)
(Please do not email me directly unless  asked. Thank You)
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher
a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, bui
ld
a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, 
act
alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a compu
ter,
cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.  Specialization is for
insects.   (RAH)

Sergio Salazar wrote:

> I'm not sure if this is the right newsgroup to post, but I need
> advice about Lazarus and Free Pascal

One correct place for discussion of FreePascal is at this link:

http://community.freepascal.org:10000/bboard/

Lazarus, at this link:


http://www.lazarus.freepascal.org/m...name=PNphpBB2&f
ile=index


--
Dave Nottage [TeamB]

Thanks to all for the replys,
is a good start point. I 'll do some advanced research about this, and
probably post the results in Free Pascal newsgroups. I will consider
Python also, it seems promising.

Thanks again
Sergio

"Dave Nottage [TeamB]" <davidn@n0sp4m.please.radsoft.com.au> wrote in
news:4222878c@newsgroups.borland.com:

> One correct place for discussion of FreePascal is at this link:
>
>   http://community.freepascal.org:10000/bboard/
>

This newserver:  nntp.miraclec.com is an excellent starting place.

Cheers.