7 ms·

Lazarus Version 1.6

114 points by sysrpl 11y ago

ritonlajoie 11y ago
I installed lazarus (not from this website) two weeks ago and I was annoyed of the multi window (à la GIMP) thing. It seems it has been changed in this particular version ? I wonder, because the IDE in the video of the front page is showing a 1 window IDE.
- martinrame 11y ago
  By default it works in a multi-window envidonment, but if you want you can install the package AnchorDockingDsgn (from the Package->Install/Uninstall Package) that lets you "dock" the windows you want.
open-source-ux 11y ago
A question for Pascal programmers: have you used Pascal for web development? And would you recommend it for web development? If so, how did you find its speed of execution? By web app development, I mean code that runs server-side and processes forms, or generates pages dynamically. Web development is dominated by dynamic languages, but surprisingly few compiled languages seem to make headway in this space. The Go programming language looks like it might change that, but other compiled languages remain quite niche. I know many people baulk at the idea of running an "old" compiled language like C or Pascal, but these languages seem (to me) to remain extremely fast and very light on resource usage. Two qualities that feel a bit out of fashion in todays web programming environment.
- martinrame 11y ago
  Yes I do, but not as old style PHP or ASP (html pages server side rendered). I use AngularJs for the front end and a CGI/Stand Alone servers written in Lazarus/FPC server side. Please take a look at the Brook Framework, it allows developing REST applications: http://silvioprog.github.io/brookframework/ http://silvioprog.github.io/brookframework/
  - yannis 11y ago
    Thanks for posting this. I am an old Pascal programmer. Love the language and did a phd thesis entirely in the old turbo Pascal IDE. (All programming + using the editor for LaTeX files).
  - systems 11y ago
    the brook framework doesnt seem very active
    - martinrame 11y ago
      The GitHub repo doesn't, but Silvio is working privately on the new 2.0 version. Also there's a Google Plus community https://plus.google.com/communities/101133820055678331036 https://plus.google.com/communities/101133820055678331036 Anyway, the current version is very stable, I use it since a couple of years without a glitch.
- pjmlp 11y ago
  I wouldn't call JVM and .NET platforms a niche, unless you mean AOT only languages and even in that case there are AOT toolchains for JVM and .NET. Regarding Pascal, Delphi does have components for web development, but given its current enterprise focus they are more tailored to bring existing Delphi applications to the web, not for greenfield projects. AdaCore has a web stack for Ada in terms of Pascal family of languages and web.
- edwinyzh 11y ago
  In addition to the Brook framework mentioned above, check https://github.com/synopse/mORMot https://github.com/synopse/mORMot. Maybe start from this blog post by the author: http://blog.synopse.info/post/2015/01/10/mORMot-under-Linux-thanks-to-FPC http://blog.synopse.info/post/2015/01/10/mORMot-under-Linux-...
melted 11y ago
Tried it on my hi-DPI Thinkpad, needs hi-DPI support to be usable there. I remember being quite fond of Delphi when I was a student. No programming environment before or after Delphi has let me focus _only_ on the problem at hand, and no environment had made it so easy to create and reuse components.
j_s 11y ago
This seems useful for cross-platform desktop UIs. Are there any Pascal compilers targeting iPhone & Android?
- groovy2shoes 11y ago
  FreePascal (the compiler Lazarus uses). You might even have luck with good ol' p2c if you're desperate.
- clouddrover 11y ago
  Delphi does. It's good, but expensive: http://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi http://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi
trishume 11y ago
This looks amazingly comprehensive and high quality for a non mainstream language. I wonder how difficult it would be to get something like Rust, Nim, D or Crystal to be able to call the FreePascal ABI and link with this.
- giancarlostoro 11y ago
  I've wondered the same for quite a while, or just to see similar projects for other languages. I would love to see an IDE like this for D definitely.
  - bzbg 11y ago
    IIUC, there's https://github.com/buggins/dlangide https://github.com/buggins/dlangide that's gonna become a RAD tool, based on this GUI library: https://github.com/buggins/dlangui https://github.com/buggins/dlangui .
  - sysrpl 11y ago
    The D IDE Coedit is written using Lazarus: https://github.com/BBasile/Coedit https://github.com/BBasile/Coedit It reuses the Lazarus code editor and other things I am sure. I'm not entirely familiar with language constructs of D, specifically reflection (RTTI in Lazarus) and properties/events which are the magical glue that makes Lazarus work the way it does.
    - bzbg 11y ago
      The D IDE Coedit is not a RAD tool like Lazarus. It does nothing with reflection, like Lazarus does, typically object streaming based on what's done by the user in the visual designer, written to a file, that get linked in the final application and reloaded at run-time with object de-streaming. In comparison, Lazarus + LCL + packages is 1.59M SLOC while Coedit barely reaches 30K SLOC. Coedit is really a simple program, it's just an editor dedicated to D, with facilities to compile projects (DUB, DMD-based custom format) and also to run D modules from scratch, it's just a GUI with a lot of piped sub-processes under the hood ^^
    - 11y ago
giancarlostoro 11y ago
It might be worth noting that 'getlazarus' is an independent project from the Lazarus IDE itself, it uses more up to date releases that are yet to be available and is designed to be much friendlier to use.
- themodelplumber 11y ago
  > much friendlier I'll say. Just watching the video I felt like I had a peek into developer heaven. Pretty nice amount of polish there.
  - pjmlp 11y ago
    Now imagine being used to this in the mid-90's and then being dropped into UNIX CLI, vi (no vim on those days), Emacs and C.
rosstex 11y ago
I was really disappointed this wasn't Lazarus Form Recovery back from the dead. What is this project about?
- martinrame 11y ago
  This is an IDE for FreePascal.
ldong 11y ago
Am I the only one thought it was a new release of "Lazarus: Form Recovery"?
- narag 11y ago
  Never heard of that. But FWIW: the name does actually reference a previous dead project.
analognoise 11y ago
I love modern FreePascal with Lazarus; I wish there were more recent books about it, but it's a wonderful language and IDE. I really hope people here give it a shot.
- sysrpl 11y ago
  Although there is plenty of information out there, I am working on making tutorials, guides, a new language reference, and even some lexical diagrams in SVG: http://www.getlazarus.org/learn/language/lexical/ http://www.getlazarus.org/learn/language/lexical/
  - analognoise 11y ago
    Agreed but it isn't curated information - I bought a bunch of old Pascal books but finding newer info that isn't Delphi specific is pretty damn hard - a set of design pattern books for FPC guis would be amazing. The forums are good though!
  - fredmorcos 11y ago
    Could you refer me to good modern resources? I am fluent in C programming and would really like to get started with Pascal and Object Pascal using FPC and Lazarus. I really think the language adds a lot of nice things compared to C without sacrificing C's advantages and without becoming C++. The only problem I'm currently facing is finding resources to learn.
  - Gys 11y ago
    The video on the Application Explorer shows a Lazarus IDE 1.7 ?! Great diagrams, BTW ! Love the overall very modern look of the website.
    - sysrpl 11y ago
      Regarding 1.7, I distribute builds based on the trunk revision which is usually pretty far ahead of the release versions. Thanks for noticing the website design.
anta40 11y ago
I really like the fact that Lazarus is easy to build (even on my Windows system). 1. grab the source code 2. make install LAZARUS_INSTALL_DIR=C:\lazarus NOGDB=1 3. done Anyway, it's nice that we have an open source, cross platform Delphi-like environment :D
gadders 11y ago
This looks like a pretty good equivalent to VB before it went all .Net and got a steeper learning curve.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- hsitz 11y ago
  Similar idea as old VB, but in no way equivalent. Much better language, much better component system.
albertzeyer 11y ago
I like Lazarus a lot. I guess I should maybe develop some more GUI tools with it. About setup on MacOSX: I think it could be easier by having it in Homebrew. Or as a self-contained app bundle. (I found a Homebrew Caskroom Lazarus package. But that seems not up-to-date? Also, maybe it should be in the main Homebrew tree?) Edit: Maybe actually installing from here is easier: http://www.lazarus-ide.org/index.php?page=downloads http://www.lazarus-ide.org/index.php?page=downloads
- sysrpl 11y ago
  This installer uses homebrew or macports. You get to choose: http://www.getlazarus.org/setup/?download#macintosh http://www.getlazarus.org/setup/?download#macintosh

114 points by sysrpl 11y ago

I installed lazarus (not from this website) two weeks ago and I was annoyed of the multi window (à la GIMP) thing. It seems it has been changed in this particular version ? I wonder, because the IDE in the video of the front page is showing a 1 window IDE.

martinrame 11y ago
By default it works in a multi-window envidonment, but if you want you can install the package AnchorDockingDsgn (from the Package->Install/Uninstall Package) that lets you "dock" the windows you want.

open-source-ux 11y ago

A question for Pascal programmers: have you used Pascal for web development? And would you recommend it for web development? If so, how did you find its speed of execution? By web app development, I mean code that runs server-side and processes forms, or generates pages dynamically. Web development is dominated by dynamic languages, but surprisingly few compiled languages seem to make headway in this space. The Go programming language looks like it might change that, but other compiled languages remain quite niche. I know many people baulk at the idea of running an "old" compiled language like C or Pascal, but these languages seem (to me) to remain extremely fast and very light on resource usage. Two qualities that feel a bit out of fashion in todays web programming environment.

martinrame 11y ago
Yes I do, but not as old style PHP or ASP (html pages server side rendered). I use AngularJs for the front end and a CGI/Stand Alone servers written in Lazarus/FPC server side. Please take a look at the Brook Framework, it allows developing REST applications: http://silvioprog.github.io/brookframework/ http://silvioprog.github.io/brookframework/
- yannis 11y ago
  Thanks for posting this. I am an old Pascal programmer. Love the language and did a phd thesis entirely in the old turbo Pascal IDE. (All programming + using the editor for LaTeX files).
- systems 11y ago
  the brook framework doesnt seem very active
  - martinrame 11y ago
    The GitHub repo doesn't, but Silvio is working privately on the new 2.0 version. Also there's a Google Plus community https://plus.google.com/communities/101133820055678331036 https://plus.google.com/communities/101133820055678331036 Anyway, the current version is very stable, I use it since a couple of years without a glitch.
pjmlp 11y ago
I wouldn't call JVM and .NET platforms a niche, unless you mean AOT only languages and even in that case there are AOT toolchains for JVM and .NET. Regarding Pascal, Delphi does have components for web development, but given its current enterprise focus they are more tailored to bring existing Delphi applications to the web, not for greenfield projects. AdaCore has a web stack for Ada in terms of Pascal family of languages and web.
edwinyzh 11y ago
In addition to the Brook framework mentioned above, check https://github.com/synopse/mORMot https://github.com/synopse/mORMot. Maybe start from this blog post by the author: http://blog.synopse.info/post/2015/01/10/mORMot-under-Linux-thanks-to-FPC http://blog.synopse.info/post/2015/01/10/mORMot-under-Linux-...

melted 11y ago

Tried it on my hi-DPI Thinkpad, needs hi-DPI support to be usable there. I remember being quite fond of Delphi when I was a student. No programming environment before or after Delphi has let me focus _only_ on the problem at hand, and no environment had made it so easy to create and reuse components.

j_s 11y ago

This seems useful for cross-platform desktop UIs. Are there any Pascal compilers targeting iPhone & Android?

groovy2shoes 11y ago
FreePascal (the compiler Lazarus uses). You might even have luck with good ol' p2c if you're desperate.
clouddrover 11y ago
Delphi does. It's good, but expensive: http://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi http://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi

trishume 11y ago

This looks amazingly comprehensive and high quality for a non mainstream language. I wonder how difficult it would be to get something like Rust, Nim, D or Crystal to be able to call the FreePascal ABI and link with this.

giancarlostoro 11y ago
I've wondered the same for quite a while, or just to see similar projects for other languages. I would love to see an IDE like this for D definitely.
- bzbg 11y ago
  IIUC, there's https://github.com/buggins/dlangide https://github.com/buggins/dlangide that's gonna become a RAD tool, based on this GUI library: https://github.com/buggins/dlangui https://github.com/buggins/dlangui .
- sysrpl 11y ago
  The D IDE Coedit is written using Lazarus: https://github.com/BBasile/Coedit https://github.com/BBasile/Coedit It reuses the Lazarus code editor and other things I am sure. I'm not entirely familiar with language constructs of D, specifically reflection (RTTI in Lazarus) and properties/events which are the magical glue that makes Lazarus work the way it does.
  - bzbg 11y ago
    The D IDE Coedit is not a RAD tool like Lazarus. It does nothing with reflection, like Lazarus does, typically object streaming based on what's done by the user in the visual designer, written to a file, that get linked in the final application and reloaded at run-time with object de-streaming. In comparison, Lazarus + LCL + packages is 1.59M SLOC while Coedit barely reaches 30K SLOC. Coedit is really a simple program, it's just an editor dedicated to D, with facilities to compile projects (DUB, DMD-based custom format) and also to run D modules from scratch, it's just a GUI with a lot of piped sub-processes under the hood ^^
  - 11y ago

giancarlostoro 11y ago

It might be worth noting that 'getlazarus' is an independent project from the Lazarus IDE itself, it uses more up to date releases that are yet to be available and is designed to be much friendlier to use.

themodelplumber 11y ago
> much friendlier I'll say. Just watching the video I felt like I had a peek into developer heaven. Pretty nice amount of polish there.
- pjmlp 11y ago
  Now imagine being used to this in the mid-90's and then being dropped into UNIX CLI, vi (no vim on those days), Emacs and C.

rosstex 11y ago

I was really disappointed this wasn't Lazarus Form Recovery back from the dead. What is this project about?

martinrame 11y ago
This is an IDE for FreePascal.

ldong 11y ago

Am I the only one thought it was a new release of "Lazarus: Form Recovery"?

narag 11y ago
Never heard of that. But FWIW: the name does actually reference a previous dead project.

analognoise 11y ago

I love modern FreePascal with Lazarus; I wish there were more recent books about it, but it's a wonderful language and IDE. I really hope people here give it a shot.

sysrpl 11y ago
Although there is plenty of information out there, I am working on making tutorials, guides, a new language reference, and even some lexical diagrams in SVG: http://www.getlazarus.org/learn/language/lexical/ http://www.getlazarus.org/learn/language/lexical/
- analognoise 11y ago
  Agreed but it isn't curated information - I bought a bunch of old Pascal books but finding newer info that isn't Delphi specific is pretty damn hard - a set of design pattern books for FPC guis would be amazing. The forums are good though!
- fredmorcos 11y ago
  Could you refer me to good modern resources? I am fluent in C programming and would really like to get started with Pascal and Object Pascal using FPC and Lazarus. I really think the language adds a lot of nice things compared to C without sacrificing C's advantages and without becoming C++. The only problem I'm currently facing is finding resources to learn.
- Gys 11y ago
  The video on the Application Explorer shows a Lazarus IDE 1.7 ?! Great diagrams, BTW ! Love the overall very modern look of the website.
  - sysrpl 11y ago
    Regarding 1.7, I distribute builds based on the trunk revision which is usually pretty far ahead of the release versions. Thanks for noticing the website design.

anta40 11y ago

I really like the fact that Lazarus is easy to build (even on my Windows system). 1. grab the source code 2. make install LAZARUS_INSTALL_DIR=C:\lazarus NOGDB=1 3. done Anyway, it's nice that we have an open source, cross platform Delphi-like environment :D

gadders 11y ago

This looks like a pretty good equivalent to VB before it went all .Net and got a steeper learning curve.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
hsitz 11y ago
Similar idea as old VB, but in no way equivalent. Much better language, much better component system.

albertzeyer 11y ago

I like Lazarus a lot. I guess I should maybe develop some more GUI tools with it. About setup on MacOSX: I think it could be easier by having it in Homebrew. Or as a self-contained app bundle. (I found a Homebrew Caskroom Lazarus package. But that seems not up-to-date? Also, maybe it should be in the main Homebrew tree?) Edit: Maybe actually installing from here is easier: http://www.lazarus-ide.org/index.php?page=downloads http://www.lazarus-ide.org/index.php?page=downloads

sysrpl 11y ago
This installer uses homebrew or macports. You get to choose: http://www.getlazarus.org/setup/?download#macintosh http://www.getlazarus.org/setup/?download#macintosh