5 ms·

Delphi wasn't like that. There'a a gap a mile wide between 1) tools like Delphi, VisualBasic (the classic version, not .net), and to some extent, HyperCard 2

Delphi wasn't like that. There'a a gap a mile wide between 1) tools like Delphi, VisualBasic (the classic version, not .net), and to some extent, HyperCard 2) GUI builders, which were popularized by Visual C++ #1 doesn't have (visible) layers or abstractions. It's a different way to represent your program. You place a few controls, tie them to actions (code), and that's your system. #2 is like onions, with lots of messy layers, and tend to be way more cumbersome to deal with than the code itself. I don't know of modern-day graphical programming systems. I haven't kept up with Delphi, but people who have claim the last useful version is Version 7 from 2002. After that, it went through some messy transition.

m_mueller 6y ago
It's been a while (I've never done autolayout and up) but I found Xcode Interface Builder to work in the fashion you describe. Probably not an accident as it descends from NeXT devtools which inspired e.g. VB (not sure about Delphi).
- allo37 6y ago
  How well would these tools have worked with source control? Interface builder effectively uses XML files, but they are not meant to be edited/understood by humans. This effectively hides a layer of the "onion", but it makes it tricky to follow changes checked into VCS...
  - m_mueller 6y ago
    Well XML is still better for that than binary, which I suspect VB was. We did have Xcode project files in git and it was ok.
    - pjmlp 6y ago
      VB FRM files were text based.
user5994461 6y ago
There is one GUI builder in Java I forgot the name, a plugin for Eclipse from Google, that allows to build GUI by drag and drop and jump into the code. It works directly by reading and writing any java code file, there are no extra files and layers of abstraction. It could understand Swing, SWT and a couple other major UI frameworks. That's the only thing I know that's really seamless like old times.
- yCombLinks 6y ago
  WindowBuilder
boznz 6y ago
went through a few bad patches but Latest Version is Very enjoyable to code in, and far superior to Delphi 7. Lazarus does a good job too and GPL

m_mueller 6y ago

It's been a while (I've never done autolayout and up) but I found Xcode Interface Builder to work in the fashion you describe. Probably not an accident as it descends from NeXT devtools which inspired e.g. VB (not sure about Delphi).

allo37 6y ago
How well would these tools have worked with source control? Interface builder effectively uses XML files, but they are not meant to be edited/understood by humans. This effectively hides a layer of the "onion", but it makes it tricky to follow changes checked into VCS...
- m_mueller 6y ago
  Well XML is still better for that than binary, which I suspect VB was. We did have Xcode project files in git and it was ok.
  - pjmlp 6y ago
    VB FRM files were text based.

user5994461 6y ago

There is one GUI builder in Java I forgot the name, a plugin for Eclipse from Google, that allows to build GUI by drag and drop and jump into the code. It works directly by reading and writing any java code file, there are no extra files and layers of abstraction. It could understand Swing, SWT and a couple other major UI frameworks. That's the only thing I know that's really seamless like old times.

yCombLinks 6y ago
WindowBuilder

boznz 6y ago

went through a few bad patches but Latest Version is Very enjoyable to code in, and far superior to Delphi 7. Lazarus does a good job too and GPL