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[maxxnostra]

The best language to use is the one that will do the job for you in the manner that you like most and fits the purpose of creating that software.  ;)Some people prefer speed of the appicaton versus richness of functionallity, but no matter what you prefer the language you use is the tool that you decided to use to get your software done. In many cases VB has been proven as natural (BASIC human readable format and syntax) choice for beginers. During the years it has emerged to equal and in some cases better then what were considered the best languages (C family). Why do you think Microsoft choose VB(A) as integral langauage of all their software products (starting from Office, then advancing to ASP/VBScript, and now VB.NET). Because it was easy to learn and they knew that most people will accept expanding their bussines capabilities by using some kind of scripting in their applications. Like it or not Microsoft is a leader in the software industry. They have the only OS for PC that has adopted to each single desktop at home and at work, and their application and their OS is forcing BASIC style of scripting and programming.
Not to mention that if true .NET server (platform not framework) arises in the future, you may all forget about the fight of what language you are going to use, because they will all compile to JIT and they will all have the same speed and functionality because theay are just language that is spoken to develop the application , not the language that drives the application it self.

[scarnie]

You can use C++ or C object code in Delphi.  Close enough, all you are doing is letting the C++ compiler generate the object code, and then including it in your Pascal unit.  

Cheers,

Stu

Definitely you can't include C++ code into delphi. You can include delphi units into C++ Builder, and you can use libraries or dll's (coded in C++ or whatever) in delphi. But you can NOT use C++ code in delphi.

[Jason]

I'm using a Microslop J/Direct wrapper around the C/C++ API so I can use BASS from VJ++ 6.0!  Muahahahahaha...

[Derek Wildstar]

I use VB but I agree that Delphi will win. Probably because it bridges the gap between cryptic C/++ and user friendly VB.

1. You can cleanly Multithread in Delphi. In VB you end up with a big headache and lots of GPFs.

2. Microsoft has chosen to go the wrong way with VB.NET which now seems more suited to programming business Apps (no more general purpose programming).

3. Of course C/++ is the king of them all but I shudder when I think of the learning curve!

I am seriously considering a move to Delphi and C++. Then I'll only be using VB6 for rapid prototyping at the concept stage.

Rgds.

I 100% confirm your words and i would like to suggest: DELPHI, DELPHI and DELPHI!!

This is THE language!

See it (my project)
http://www.wildstarcorp.kit.net/scr.html

[Aux]

About maxxnostra's post - even without JIT nowadays EVERY program compiles (but not BASIC) into ASSEMMBLY language. It is the same for ALL of 8086 PCs!!! Just like JIT will be for ALL PCs in the world (like MS think). Nowadays there's nothing impossible with pascal (delphi) or C - good optimizer will build good code. It all depend on COMPILER not on a language! Am I wrong somewhere?

[shadow]

 
Of course I use C/C++.

[Antony]

Yep, another C++ here 2  

[da18]

The Vb is too pretty good!

[shadow]

About BoggyB's Challenge...

...since C/C++ is (I think) the most common programming language, and VB is second as it's so easy to start programming with. To prove that, I will set this challenge:

Make a program with a button which pops up a message box that says "Hello World" with just three lines of code!

I seriously doubt that anybody will be able to do that in C/C++, or most other languages for that matter. But in VB, it's easy. Create a new project, add a command button to the form (accept all defaults), and paste in the following code:

Private Sub Command1_Click()
MsgBox "Hello World!"
End Sub


Volia! Compile, and execute, and you be amazed at what you can do with 3 lines of code!

Maybe I should stop bragging about VB now...

Maybe BoggyB Hasn't seen C++ Builder.  Just one line of code and its c++!

void __fastcall OnButton1Click(TObject, Sender)
{
   Application->MessageBoxA("Hello World!","Hello",MB_OK);
//The line above this one is the only one you code

}

C/C++ can be very low level or very high level.

As a matter of fact, the Windows API and the DirectX API(BASS is a high level wrapper for DirectSound) are
C functions.  And judging  the structure of BASS itself it seems to be coded in C++.

I could be wrong.  But this is one of the most powerful languages out there and it has withstood the test of time.

By the way, those strange looking parameters in the event handler prototype are JUST a hint at it's immense power.

Also, this code uses the VCL framework which is the exact same framework that Delphi uses.(Object Pascal).

What a joy it is to have these modern day tools!!!

And as far as JIT...

Assembly and C were around long before Microsoft and aren't  going anywhere anytime soon...  as far as their original purpose that is because there will always be a need for a SYSTEM level language.

I dug up some  C code I wrote for an Atari 65XE 8 bit computer about 17 years ago, typed it back in, compiled it to the ANSI standard, and lo and behold, 17 years later that same code runs on a 80786 class computer in Windows and Linux.  Very portable indeed!!!

[Pablo]

I programming in delphi. It's my favourite develop software. I programming also in C++ and VB, but delphi is the best.

[Werdok]

You can actually produce smaller executables with VB by using P-code instead of native compilation, and they compile an awful lot faster at a small cost of running speed (but who cares with 2GHz P4s).

   When it comes up to software mixing and 3D VB is smoking nervously outside. For reasons of efficiency Impulse Tracker eas written in ASM completely (ooh, God!) modplug bunch of software in VC++ (or so). Plus ASM code was encapsulated where the compiler really sucked.
    Still I find VB quite handy for little office apps. When performance is not of your main concern VB works just fine.

[Atilla]

SOmebody said somewhere that VB was user-friendly ... Now i don't want to criticise opinions or something but .... VB User Friendly ?!?! Come on - give us a brake. I am actually amazed how amnny wannabe programmers (I exclude the people from this forum) can actually get how to do things with this.

Now C++ holds amazing power, by allowing you to do anything - something thet people from Software engeneering do not like.

The again i've always preffered Delphi, though recently it's become easier for me to develop in C++, cause i use lots of classess and inheritance etc.. However Delphi has things that make life easier and stuff like interfaces and good exeption handling, very simmilar to JAVA. If you strip off the RAD functionality it still remains an amazingly good choice. If you stick to the coding conventions you can produce a masterpiece that you can READ out in natural language.

Only an opinion though :+)

Of course if you consider yourself more a machine than human you can always go ahead of every1 and use ASM :+)

[Torkell]

About BoggyB's Challenge...

...since C/C++ is (I think) the most common programming language, and VB is second as it's so easy to start programming with. To prove that, I will set this challenge:

Make a program with a button which pops up a message box that says "Hello World" with just three lines of code!

Private Sub Command1_Click()
MsgBox "Hello World!"
End Sub

Volia! Compile, and execute, and you be amazed at what you can do with 3 lines of code!

Maybe I should stop bragging about VB now...

Maybe BoggyB Hasn't seen C++ Builder.  Just one line of code and its c++!

void __fastcall OnButton1Click(TObject, Sender)
{
   Application->MessageBoxA("Hello World!","Hello",MB_OK);
//The line above this one is the only one you code
}

That actually beats mine, as the curly braces can be on the same line as the function call! I assume it defines everything for you, much like the way the VB runtime is always referenced? In VC++ you'd need to either include windows.h or create your own definition.

As a matter of fact, the Windows API and the DirectX API(BASS is a high level wrapper for DirectSound) are C functions.  And judging  the structure of BASS itself it seems to be coded in C++.

With DirectX 7 and 8, M$ did VB classes (COM objects that used native VB datatypes and were designed to be used from VB). This was dropped in DirectX 9 (IIRC), and replaced with .NET versions.

By the way, those strange looking parameters in the event handler prototype are JUST a hint at it's immense power.

In VB you can get away with defining variable types - in fact, if you remove the Option Explicit statement you only have to define arrays (unless of course you use the Array() function - VB is wonderful for quick 'n' dirty programming!)
 I've yet to see anyone post anything about the other sorta challenge (involving inheritance and polymorphism). As far as I know it isn't possible to do that in C++ in as few lines (again, this is using COM). Still, someone may once again prove me wrong...

[bigjim]

I've yet to see anyone post anything about the other sorta challenge (involving inheritance and polymorphism). As far as I know it isn't possible to do that in C++ in as few lines (again, this is using COM). Still, someone may once again prove me wrong...

^^Dont tempt me im too busy

[CodeMonkey]

I currently use C++ only because there is no .NET native version.  Once there is, I will be using C++ and C#.

[Bahattin]

C++

[CodeMonkey]

Wow.  Look at all the Delphi users.  Who knew there were so many of you out there!

[gmwiz2k3]

I reckon C++ is the best. It's what i have been brought up to know it would be a waist of time learning VB or Delphi now (even though i have been experimenting with Delphi) and i was very suprised that Delphi has got the highest vote???

[MindWorkSoft]

Hi, I use VB but now I'm about to go VC++ because of the speed and size of the compiled program, I want a realtime response of my app's spectrum to the music being played, but using several timers for trapping events slows up the timer, I mean skipping sometimes to the expected events, of course no probs to some high speed PC, I am still using PII 500Mhz PC.

About the size, well the most common VB runtime lib 'msvb60.dll' must always included in the package so I want to get rid of it, in VC++ compiled program is so small in size that can even fit on the floopy disk.

[Renegade]

I use .NET with BASS because I can do anything with it in VB or C# or whatever. Doesn't matter. I used to program in fortran, pascal, basic (several versions), and unix shells. (I modified my PC when I was in school to behave more like Unix because it was easier then.) I've only used C for practicing exploits (legally).

As for whatever gets the job done - correct - but I would add 1 thing - whatever gets the job done most effectively/efficiently. It would probably be best to code in assembler for runtime speed, but you sacrifice development time. Even the Windows OS has portions programmed in assembler because that's the best way to do that specific job. It would be a bad idea to code core file system functionality in a bloated language like VB 6. Just depends on what you are doing. Fortunately, with computers having so much power now, those choices are less important now than they were a few years ago.

At work, I use .NET and work with other programmer's Delphi code.