lchen@cs.ubc.ca (Lee Li-Jen Chen) (03/19/91)
Hello, Recently I read the news that Borland is releasing a new TPascal for Windows 3.0 development on March 18, 1991. I'm wondering does anyone has the chance to examine and test it? If yes, what's your opinion on it, in comparison to Borland C++ 2.0? How are its documentations? do we still need to purchase MicroSoft's SDK reference manuals in order to do Windows 3.0 programming? Also, is it a superset of TP 6.0 or simply a repackaging of the old version for Windows programming? Finally, what's ObjectWindows? is it a class library that is similar to TurboVision, but for the use of Windows 3.0? BTW, I also assume that the version will only generate Win3 codes, but not DOS codes; Am I wrong?? Sorry to ask so many questions, but I need to know... :-) Thank you in advance! ______________________________________________ Lee Chen <lchen@cs.ubc.ca> Vancouver, BC, Canada __________________________________________________________
zippo@diku.dk (Ole Sas Thrane) (03/21/91)
lchen@cs.ubc.ca (Lee Li-Jen Chen) writes: >Hello, >Recently I read the news that Borland is releasing a new TPascal for >Windows 3.0 development on March 18, 1991. >I'm wondering does anyone has the chance to examine and test it? I spent the afternoon yesterday at a presentation for Borland C++ and the new Turbo Pascal Windows. I didn't get to actually try TPWin, but from what I saw it sure looks good. Heres some brief answers to your questions based on what I saw yesterday : >If yes, what's your opinion on it, in comparison to Borland C++ 2.0? For the time being TPWin will allow you to create Windows applications much easier, and much faster than with Borland C++. For one thing TPWin *is* a Windows program itself, and so you can do all your development from within Windows. The only exception is that the Turbo Debugger must still run outside Windows, requiring you to swap (Alt-F5 as usual) displays when running the debugger. One thing that impressed me quite a bit, and gave me new appetite for Windows programming was that it again is possible to write the ubiquitous Hello World program in just one (*one*) line of code, even under Windows. That is, the following program will bring up a window with the text 'Hello Windows' in the upper left corner : Program HelloWin; Uses WinCrt; // Does most of the DOS Crt functions Begin writeln('Hello Windows'); End. Besides using all the standard Pascal functions, you can access *all* SDK functions directly from TPWin. The editor in TPWin supports editing of multiple files simultaneously, and has options for font selection, and a lot of other things. Compilation speed is again - unbeliveable (they claim 85.000 lines a minute on a fast 386, and it sure looks like they're right!) >How are its documentations? do we still need to purchase MicroSoft's >SDK reference manuals in order to do Windows 3.0 programming? No, apparently you don't. They said that documentation for all SDK functions is included in the 7 manuals you get, as well as in the online help-system. >Also, is it a superset of TP 6.0 or simply a repackaging of the old version >for Windows programming? This looks like a whole new program to me, but you can never be too sure about things like that. >Finally, what's ObjectWindows? is it a class library that is similar to >TurboVision, but for the use of Windows 3.0? Yes it is. It is a library of about 30 classes including all common Windows objects - scrollbars, buttons, dialogboxes, combo's, general windows, editing windows and so on. It looked pretty impressive and encapsulates all the setting up, registration, message handling, closing down and so on required by Windows, so it should make life quite a bit easier. In addition they claimed that using ObjectWindows only adds about 15k to the EXE-files. >BTW, I also assume that the version will only generate Win3 codes, but not >DOS codes; Am I wrong?? No, you're right. TPWin is exclusively for Windows programming, which in my opinion is a very reasonable decision by Borland. >Sorry to ask so many questions, but I need to know... :-) That's ok BTW - The Whitewater resource toolkit is included in TPWin as is the Microsoft help- and resource compilers. BTW2 - All the functionality af TPWin will eventually come to Borland C++ as well it was promised, but it may take some time. When asked directly about when this would happen, Borlands Head of Language Division Gene Wang gave the magic three word answer : Real Soon Now... Hope this clarifies matters a bit Ole Thrane