David Schwartz via PLUG-discuss said on Sun, 25 Dec 2022 07:20:47 +0000
(UTC)

> Steve does a nice job of defending the status quo, 

Thank you!

> but I’m eager to
> move beyond that.

[snip]

> First, let me say that I’ve made the majority of my income since 1997
> as a Delphi developer. It did get quite a bit of traction between 1999
> and 2007. I happen to think it’s the most productive coding platform
> on the market today, 

I think Clarion might give Delphi a run for the money, but I've dabbled
in Delphi and Lazarus enough to agree that they're very productive,
ESPECIALLY after you've really gotten to know them, which I haven't.

However, like Unix and Clarion before it, IMHO Delphi shot itself in
the foot by charging too much. IIRC Delphi started out being affordable
for the average kitchen table programmer, resulting in a lot of people
knowing how to do it. But like Unix and Clarion, they raised their
prices to the point where a kitchen table programmer couldn't afford
it, and it became strictly glass house. Which meant a scarcity of
people who could do Delphi, which inhibited its growth.

The first Lazarus free software Delphi Clone came in 2001, a little too
late.

Nothing in my preceding three paragraphs should be inferred to mean
that Delphi isn't super productive. Those paragraphs are merely a
possible explanation why Delphi became an also-ran, while C, C++, Java
and Python continue to be often used languages.


> The problem is that hardly anybody is using Dephi for NEW product
> development.

This isn't surprising given the acquisition price and annual
subscription. A developer can experiment with Python, Node, React, Vue,
and PHP for free, and after gaining prowess get right into a high
paying job. If the language doesn't work out for him or her, it's just
a few hours lost. Contrast this with Delphi, whose least sophisticated
offering is $1279 first year, $399 every year after. If it continued to
be priced the way Philippe Kahn priced things, Delphi just might
have ruled the world.

> https://bestkeywordmixer.com/ <https://bestkeywordmixer.com/>
> 
> I wonder how long it would take to build that in any “full-stack” web
> programming platform. Less than an hour?
> 
> I used Delphi + WebCore and I didn’t write a single line of javascript
> — just ObjectPacal. And it’s not much code. 

A real benefit to this type of thing is quickly coding up a prototype
that can actually evolve into the real thing after forming a basis for
discussion about specifications.

> (BTW, WebCore also runs
> within the free VS Code IDE, so you don’t even need Delphi. But it
> still uses ObjectPascal.)

Will it work with FreePascal?

> I’m tired of writing lines of code to describe what I want my software
> to do. I want somthing more visual and less prone to error, that
> requires less tacit knowledge of dozens of libraries and the latest
> functions and calling parameters, and is easier to test. I just want
> to be able to draw a diagram and say, “do this…” and it knows how. 

Me too.

How would you like to give a Lazarus presentation at one of online
GoLUG meetings?

SteveT

Steve Litt 
Autumn 2022 featured book: Thriving in Tough Times
http://www.troubleshooters.com/bookstore/thrive.htm

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