Re: [linux-audio-dev] About Kylix, music, Linux, etc.

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Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] About Kylix, music, Linux, etc.
From: nickt (nicktsocanos_AT_charter.net)
Date: Fri May 09 2003 - 23:44:48 EEST


>
> I'm not a Pascal fanatic at all. Furthermore, i don't consider myself as a
> fanatic in any sense. Well, perhaps i spend too much time with computers, and
> i love them as much as i love music. And i love Pascal too, as much as i love
> Linux. So, when Delphi landed in Linux incarnated as Kylix, it made me very
> happy.

Yep! But the new Kylix also has the same thing as Borland C++ Builder
built into it. You no longer need to use strictly Pascal for it! (you
mention this later on..)

I learned to program in Turbo Pascal and a dying VAX mainframe. ANSI C
was being taught as an extracurricular program at my school, I took the
course, and I never went back to Pascal again.

> You can get Kylix 3 "gratis" (as a beer) from the Borland site. This "gratis"
> Kylix version has a proprietary license with an unusual mandatory clause:
> every program you do with it must be GPL licensed, if distributed. Some

That was what I was wondering about in the license. Actually I did find
the license (it helped to install it yah know, it will display it. I was
searching the website all over to find it).

I really really think, just as someone who has been programming C++
since it first became available on PCs (do you rememeber CFront?!) that
Borland C++ Builder was the single most important C++ tool ever made. I
was always sad that people could not get past it being a mickey-mouse
tool. I have been using Borland C++ Builder since version 3 and trying
in vain to get people to see the light with this tool.

When I found out that Kylix 3 had Builder in it more or less, and was
Open and free, I was extremely excited. I had been watching Kylix since
version 2, but back than it was Delphi only. I hadn't done pascal since
Turbo Pascal about 6 years ago.

Kylix was a major factor in me coming to Linux (again). At last I had a
tool I knew how to use to make work on Linux. But I have not gotten
around to using it yet because I don't know how Linux people will react
to it. They are a funny lot and I don't always understand them.

The major thing that kept me back from Linux was that I don't understand
the tools on it to do things. I learned on Borland tools. I was raised
lazy to expect IDEs to make make files and autoconf stuff for you. IMHO
that stuff is mundane and the job of automated tools anyways.

Visual C++ was IMO the biggest failure ever. The only reason I used
Visual C++ 6 was because I could plug Intel C++ compiler into it and
make ATL objects for use in Visual Basic with it's super optimizing
compiler.

But I'm all half-assed in this Linux world. I am beginning to get the
hacker spirit to hack into things and figure them out. I am beginning to
let go of my training wheel mentality and just dig in. But it's really
nice to have a tool I know how to use well on this system now.

But it does have something to do with LAD. I am using it to build a
serious GUI for audio programs. I want to make something that looks like
Reason on Linux. I can not do this with GTK or FLTK. It might be
possible but I don't know enough of how to get them to do it. With Kylix
I can do it because I at least know the tools. My only other solution
was to use SDL and build a whole GUI kit on it, but it has some serious
limitations to that approach.

I dunno I know the Linux people have strange issues with commercial
companies coming into the scene so that is why I was working the hard
way to use the tools they have available and make ends meet and be happy
with everybody. But having Kylix is so tempting to break it out and do
something really impressive with it and turn some heads. Show people
what you can do with it. And that's how Linux people are. You show them
you can do some cool thing with some thing, and they will all go and
make their own versions of it, and you get new and diverse things going
on.

Qt-Designer is coming real close to Borland C++ Builder. I think pretty
soon it will be a fully blown Builder like program. It just takes some
impetus to get people to notice how powerful that way of doing things
can be.

So I guess I will go off and do something impressive with Kylix. I
guarantee if I pull it off you will see all the Linux masters make
something better than it. You just gotta turn some heads and get people
to notice.


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