[fpc-pascal] Systems 2005: A first summary

[Bisma Jayadi]

It's a great news to know FPC and Lazarus getting more and more popular and 
starting to be counted in serious software development. I'm really glad to hear 
and see this. :)

I got few suggestions, especially to target more Delphi developers.

1. Maybe it'll better for public and new users to know 1 product instead of two: 
FPC (the compiler) and Lazarus (the IDE). Just like Delphi for the compiler and 
the IDE in a single package. I still got many times question like this: "what's 
the difference between FPC and Lazarus?" or "why I still need FPC if I already 
got Lazarus?". Because many new users think that Lazarus is also a Pascal 
compiler, another Delphi clone, or Kylix alternative. :p

2. Language/compiler support for (Delphi) package (.bpl?). I think this is the 
most significant problem for new FPC/Lazarus user who used to be a Delphi user. 
Custom component creation and installation seems to be too complicated and 
required much efforts in Lazarus, while it's a very simple task on Delphi. If 
they able to compile and use their Delphi components on Lazarus, it'll be a 
really BIG advantage.

3. Again... it's about language compatibility with Delphi 2005 (and newer). No, 
I ain't talking about .Net! Forget .Net, but don't forget new language features 
on new Delphi release. Ok... I agree if we skip the aesthetical-beauty and 
saving-key-strokes features, yes I know it's not worth it. But we should 
consider new language power features. To mention a few: sealed class, class 
constants, generics, etc. Staying as close as possible to Delphi language will 
give us more chances to get more users.

Just my 2 cents. :)

Regards,

-Bee-

has Bee.ography at
http://beeography.modblog.com