5 ms·

Lazarus on the FreePascal compiler does exactly that, borrowing from Delphi's heritage. It copies VB6 almost literally, in many ways, but can output binaries fo

by tomc1985 4y ago

Lazarus on the FreePascal compiler does exactly that, borrowing from Delphi's heritage. It copies VB6 almost literally, in many ways, but can output binaries for win/mac/linux. I've written a few toy apps in it and in my limited exploration it seems to be a joy to work with, once you get used to Pascal's quirks... and I'm not a fan of the ancient MDI workflow it imposes either. I also learned to program with VB and Lazarus is the closest thing I've found. The WinForms designer in Visual Studio would be the next closest. Both GTK and Swing have various GUI designers that are similar, but have their own design and use different layout metaphors. If you're looking for a more modern take on what's left of RAD maybe check them out.

ijidak 4y ago
Small correction. If I remember correctly, VB copied Delphi. That's why it looks so similar. I still remember the great VB vs Borland Delphi wars of the 90's. But feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
- tomc1985 4y ago
  Interesting... Last time I brought this up there were some very fervent Delphi fans that seemed to agree with you. My first dev environment was VB, so I am probably biased.
- WillAdams 4y ago
  Another input for VisualBASIC was Apple's MacBASIC: https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=MacBasic.txt https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=MacBasic.txt
ihateolives 4y ago
> but can output binaries for win/mac/linux I took a cursory look and I don't think it supports Apple silicon out of the box. Considering that Intel Macs are dead end it't not too encouraging.
- WatchDog 4y ago
  Given how well Rosetta 2 works, it's probably not a show stopper.
- tomc1985 4y ago
  Hmm, they mention it at the top of their Mac portal (https://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Portal:Mac https://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Portal:Mac) but I don't see it anywhere else. Emulation works pretty well from what I hear, is the lack of support that big of a deal right now?

ijidak 4y ago

Small correction. If I remember correctly, VB copied Delphi. That's why it looks so similar. I still remember the great VB vs Borland Delphi wars of the 90's. But feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

tomc1985 4y ago
Interesting... Last time I brought this up there were some very fervent Delphi fans that seemed to agree with you. My first dev environment was VB, so I am probably biased.
WillAdams 4y ago
Another input for VisualBASIC was Apple's MacBASIC: https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=MacBasic.txt https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=MacBasic.txt

ihateolives 4y ago

> but can output binaries for win/mac/linux I took a cursory look and I don't think it supports Apple silicon out of the box. Considering that Intel Macs are dead end it't not too encouraging.

WatchDog 4y ago
Given how well Rosetta 2 works, it's probably not a show stopper.
tomc1985 4y ago
Hmm, they mention it at the top of their Mac portal (https://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Portal:Mac https://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Portal:Mac) but I don't see it anywhere else. Emulation works pretty well from what I hear, is the lack of support that big of a deal right now?