http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/26146 2009-07-09T13:04:14-07:00 Michael Mainguy http://threads.embarcadero.com/threads/threads.exe/userall?commentid=27279 http://threads.embarcadero.com/threads/threads.exe/view?commentid=27279 2000-12-09T05:26:55-08:00 2000-12-09T05:26:55-08:00

Newsgroup Nuggets: Delphi Success Stories (sort of)

While working for a very large (top 5) retailer, we needed an app to write jpg blob's from a sql server to the filesystem. A tiny wrinkly was that the jpgs had to be written as bmp files. Using Delphi to write a COM object that would do this took about 1-2 hours (I sucked down the demo for my proof of concept). Meanwhile, another developer spent 3 WEEKS trying to accomplish the same thing with VB (it's a VB only shop), and stating it could not be done without purchasing a third party control (there's a bug in the version of the imaging components that MS ships and you have to pay for a fix). People around be roll their eyes and sigh when I say I could deliver my solutions quicker and with fewer errors if I were using a better tool (Delphi), but, I'd say this is pretty good proof (the other developer wasn't a doofus). Craven Weasel http://threads.embarcadero.com/threads/threads.exe/userall?commentid=27258 http://threads.embarcadero.com/threads/threads.exe/view?commentid=27258 2000-12-06T09:09:23-08:00 2000-12-06T09:09:23-08:00

Newsgroup Nuggets: Delphi Success Stories

Hello People,(note this is posted anonymously as "Craven Weasel", for to long to explain reasons, but is not less true because of this)I also have a success story with Delphi to write.I've been hired by my current company to build Windows applications from DOS (Clipper)There were 5 of them. They have always been in development (as in, things constantly continue to be added), from 1986 to 1998 (even then people still used these apps!) That's 12 years of development.Now, 2 years later, I've singlehandedly succesfully built Windows apps of 4 of them, and the 5th is done for about 80%. I've even added lots of 'more advanced' stuff. The apps work rather well, with not many bugs and if they do show up, Delphi makes it a breeze to fix them. Also note that since these apps are quite complicated (especially the last one), it can easily take 10 recompiles for a bug to be _really_ fixed. Imagine doing that with a C(++) compiler. BTW: I do consider this one of the best features of Delphi, fast compilation. I mean, 20 MB of *.PAS files builds in little under 30 seconds, and the usual compile takes about 5 seconds, all on a P2-400 running W2K.I might also note, that I could never have done this truely singlehandedly. I've had invaluable help from the newsgroups. Many people have helped me with all kinds of problems. I thank them all for that, and TeamB in particular. Project JEDI did not help me at all with these projects, but the more they helped me with the utilities/tools that accompany our projects, and those I did for my free time. Even Borland employies have helped me in the newsgroups.Ofcourse there are two more I have left out, and will now name. They have to do with InterBase, since this is our database backend.Jeff Overcash - For IBX, an excellent product, and all the support I got from him. Many thanks to you, Jeff !The MERS Interbase List - This has also proven to be a great help. People like Ann Harrison actually are on that list, and WILL help when they can!To put this whole story in short: Delphi has proven to be my #1 choice of development. If they try to make me use something else for something I can do in Delphi, I'd put my job on the line to keep using it. Also, when you have a problem in Delphi, there's usually somebody around somewhere who has got the answers. The Delphi community support is enormous! (And so is InterBase's community)Thanks Borland, for this excellent product. Thanks TeamB. Thanks Project JEDI. Thanks MERS InterBase List. Thanks Jeff Overcash.You are all great! Darren McBride http://threads.embarcadero.com/threads/threads.exe/userall?commentid=27003 http://threads.embarcadero.com/threads/threads.exe/view?commentid=27003 2000-11-01T17:38:17-07:00 2000-11-01T17:38:17-07:00

Newsgroup Nuggets: Delphi Success Stories

Can't praise Delphi, its creators and its supporters enough. We too are developing products in Delphi for the open market (first product nearing release), and I'm working on one now in which I've managed to convert some VB'rs. Borland, keep an eye on SOAP, and keep delivering as you have been (just watch the documentation a bit - needs to be better with much more examples).Roll on Kylix, and hopefully the new Pocket Technologies product for Palm will prove worthy too.Good luck guys, and thanks again to all,D. Terrance Robinson http://threads.embarcadero.com/threads/threads.exe/userall?commentid=26987 http://threads.embarcadero.com/threads/threads.exe/view?commentid=26987 2000-10-30T13:00:51-07:00 2000-10-30T13:00:51-07:00

Newsgroup Nuggets: Delphi Success Stories

I am a fish hatchery manager for the Colorado Division of Wildlife. I've been programming for 20 years, mostly with Borland products in my spare time. My specialty is database systems for wildlife use. Due to the uncertain nature of our data, our 'business rules', query and user inteface requirements fall outside of the usual boxes built for business. As a result, I found it necessary to build my own query construction and user interface libraries. Nothing in VB/Access, xBase (add your own favorite product) does anything similar (editable joins, multilevel subqueries, selection fields based on dynamic dialog classes....and so on). When our Natural Resources department mandated that new software be Acess 97 compatible, I just moved the data to Access, set the necessary aliases and kept on working! Our IT department has spent years trying to figure out how one guy working alone at a fish hatchery way up in the mountains can code circles around them. Easy, I never use toy programming languages! In fact, I haven't found any need to use anything but Delphi since the day it first arrived. Mark Brittingham http://threads.embarcadero.com/threads/threads.exe/userall?commentid=26971 http://threads.embarcadero.com/threads/threads.exe/view?commentid=26971 2000-10-28T06:07:59-07:00 2000-10-28T06:07:59-07:00

Newsgroup Nuggets: Delphi Success Stories

I have a "reverse Delphi" success story that I've shared on the newsgroups before but I think is appropriate here.I also am a solo developer with a set of software products for the health and wellness field. They are indeed built in Delphi and I am often met with a look of disbelief when I tell people that all of the products were written by one person. However, this isn't the story.The story concerns another software company in my field that was filled *almost* entirely with Visual Basic addicts (appropriate term, as we'll see). Their founder was the original developer of their product and he had written everything in Delphi. The product did quite well and, based on that success, the founder hired a team of people to continue development while he became more involved in management. Unfortunately, he essentially hired whoever he could easily get: VB people one and all. From day one these guys made it clear that they wanted to rewrite the product in VB but the owner resisted. Over time, as he came to be more and more removed from development issues, he wore down until, finally, he gave his team permission to rewrite in VB. I remember one of their developers approaching me at a big show thrilled to the eyeballs because the new version of VB was going to be "incredible" and the company was finally going to let the team move to VB. They began the project, released a beta of the new software (late), and were out of business within a year. Despite their elation going into the project, the team just could not rebuild the product in VB. Now keep in mind that this was a group of *highly* motivated VB guys - they wanted badly to reproduce in VB what they had inherited in Delphi - and they failed. From what I've heard from customers (we shared quite a few in common), the VB beta was a buggy mess and many essential features already present in their earlier Delphi product were missing. These shortcomings of the product - directly traceable to their selection of development environments - literally killed their company. Yes, folks, it does matter what development environment you choose.Best regards,Mark Brittingham