I am rather new to delphi, although I think I took pascal in college.
It is a struggle to learn non-linear type programming, any
suggestions?

Also I was curious, Alll the posts in the delphi groups talk about
problem here, help with this etc.  But has anyone written or seen any
beefie, big etc applications written in delphi?  Alot of the shareware
and freeware seems to be written in VB or C++.

.......................Bob Williamson.....................................
"When I look at my wrists and my hands are still attached,
then, I know I am lucky."  Charles Bukowski
.......................B...@halcyon.com...................................

Actually, there are far fewer problems talked about here in the Delphi
groups than in the VB group.  Most of the problems discussed here turn
out not to be problems at all.

Hi,

Our catalog maker product is written in Delphi, it is a very easy to use
catalog creator for stand alone PC's and the World Wide Web.

OzCIS - A Compuserve offline reader is written in Delphi.

HREF's WebHub is written in Delphi.

I'm sure you will get more information about other applications.

Ron.

P.S. - If you want to take a look at the Catalog Maker you can downloada
beta from our home page at http://www.hyperact.com/beta.html, it
demonstrates using a lot of components, a wysiwyg editor (Using a VBX)
and some other Delphi capabilites.

In article <4af6vl$...@news.halcyon.com>,

--
Ron Loewy, HyperAct, Inc. +1 (319) 351 8413  | rlo...@hyperact.com
Author of HLPDK/PA, CatMake, Interactive Help and HyperTerp.
Visit our home page at http://www.hyperact.com .

Sure, it's in the nature of a newsgroup like this one that people turn
there for help with their problems.

I worked on a two-person project where we wrote a high-performance
multimedia HTML-based browser in Delphi. It was written quickly and
painlessly - Delphi was a real delight to use and not too hard to learn.
If we wrote it in C++ it would have run just as fast but would have
taken ten times longer to code. If we wrote it in Visual Basic it would
never have run fast enough because there's a lot of low-level stuff in
the application.

Lots of shareware and freeware is now being written with Delphi.

Regards,
Roger
--
-- Roger Browne, 6 Bambers Walk, Wesham, PR4 3DG, UK   | Ph 01772-687525
-- Everything Eiffel: compilers/libraries/publications | +44-1772-687525

I am currently using Delphi to write a program that tracks, charts,
analyzes, and graphs real-time financial data from a live satellite hookup.
We currently have only a DOS version of our software, and I have been
given the task of creating a new Windows front-end for it.

The program is Candlestick Forecaster for Windows 3.1 (and a 32-bit
version for Win95 if Delphi 32 is out by then -- ha ha); look for it in
stores and catalogs in March/April.

Jim Kirk
International Pacific Trading Company

: I am rather new to delphi, although I think I took pascal in college.
: It is a struggle to learn non-linear type programming, any
: suggestions?

: Also I was curious, Alll the posts in the delphi groups talk about
: problem here, help with this etc.  But has anyone written or seen any
: beefie, big etc applications written in delphi?  Alot of the shareware
: and freeware seems to be written in VB or C++.

: .......................Bob Williamson.....................................
: "When I look at my wrists and my hands are still attached,
: then, I know I am lucky."  Charles Bukowski
: .......................B...@halcyon.com...................................

--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
jkirk                                     __  __     ____  ___       ___ ____
jk...@primenet.com                       /__)/__) / / / / /_  /\  / /_    /
                                        /   / \  / / / / /__ /  \/ /___  /
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our AnswerDisc application, included as part of The Visual Programmer's
Toolbox, was written in Delphi. It consists of two parts. The first is a
fairly beefy engine to parse and index tens of thousands of USENET
articles. Although the BDE seemed to get in the way a bit, reordering
some database procedures produced enormous performance increases. The
application currently is able to process 10,000 to 20,000 news articles
per hour and generates fully searchable indices. Performance obviously
is tied to the CPU and disk hardware especially. However, the numbers I
quote are for a standard Pentium 75 with 16M of Ram and a not-so-fast
hard drive.

Part two of this is the end-user application which takes keywords input
by the user and displays a list of articles for viewing. As you might
imagine, this was the easy part. The real work is in the indexing
engine. Although writing it in Delphi was slightly more work than it
would have been in VB, my view is that the application would have been
unusable under VB because of the general slowness that VB apps exhibit.
With Delphi its a real screamer and is fun to watch run.

--
Michael R. Johnston                      mi...@morse.net
Morse Telecommunication, Inc.            http://www.morse.net

yup.  My company has released Einstein E-Mail for Windows, and ASAP!
for Windows (along with their respective administation/installation
programs) in the past few weeks.  Total development time for both
projects came in under 5 months, working nights and weekends (gotta
real job, dontchaknow).  Also included in that time is NWLib, our
popular Netware library.  If I did not have to write this piece, I
probably could have had both products out within 2-2.5 months.

Note that I did _NOT_ use the BDE.  I used Rocket instead to avoid the
necessity to ship a whopping 2.5M or so of the BDE and all it's
drivers.  For shareware/freeware authors, shipping a complete ZIP over
1M is certain death.

Ain't delphi great!

Jim Tyson
Developer, Devont Software Inc.

I've seen it written that Delphi itself is was done with Delphi.
Pretty "beefie" app, no?

Regards,
Bengt Richter

In article <4af6vl$...@news.halcyon.com>,
   b...@halcyon.com (Bob Williamson) wrote:

I've written a sprite editor, resource compiler, tile editor and a text
archiver in Delphi. They are not huge, a few hundred K apiece, but they are
not small or trivial either.

I usually don't look at any shareware that requires VBRUNXX. I know it
going to be slow an klunky so why bother. Delphi has been out less than a year
and people are still getting used to it. Since it's so easy to build an app in
Delphi, you'll see a lot of good, bad and indifferent shareware out using
Delphi.

-----------------------------------------------
Mike Chapin
Powder River
-----------------------------------------------

I haven't actually seen big applications yet, but I know that they
exist. Delphi is still very young though.
Speaking for myself, I've just completed my third 'big' application.
My first was for a large building company. That application has to
deal with masses of 'paper-work', such as standard letters like
offer-sheets, contract-sheets, legal-papers dealing with permissions
etc., drawings. It should report very detailed the progression of
projects in different stages and a lot more.
The application has about 30 different forms, storing information in
about 60 databases. It can import data from other sources.
My second application was a translation of a dos application written
in Clipper. It's also 'big'. It's an application for opticians and
hearing-aid suppliers. Besides dealing with the technical aspects it
has a sofisticated mailing utility and therefor had to interface with
different wordprocessors.
I can add to this that I have other dos applications of which users
are asking more and more to translate them to windows.
My third application is not that big. It's an application that
questions applicants for management jobs.
About my fourth application, the one I'm dealing with at the moment I
can't tell much about. You never know who's reading this forum.
What I can tell though, is that it will be a medium sized. It will be
used in different countries in Europe.

Hope I could be of any use.

Peter.
It's my party and I cry if I want to...

In article <4aicoc$...@ionews.ionet.net>,
   hi...@ionet.net (Thomas Hill) wrote:

I'm not the original poster, but these sound adequately large to me.

Are the databases stored on a file server (Paradox tables, etc.) or on some
sort of SQL server?

-Kyle

*****  Kyle Cordes @ Automation Service  *****  kcor...@mo.net  *****

In article <4af6vl$...@news.halcyon.com>,
   b...@halcyon.com (Bob Williamson) wrote:
 But has anyone written or seen any

Bob,

  Yes, the Technical Information Manager (TIM) software was written in delphi,
it's used by medium-large scale companies' technical support departments.

Cheers,
Woody

Bob,

I am an independent software developer who has been writing vertical
market business solutions since 1984 in a variety of languages.  I
have now moved to Delphi as my "official" language of choice.  I am
now on my third project.  The first two were business order entry /
accounting type systems.  The systems each contain over fifty forms
and include dozens of reports. They were a pleasure to code for the
most part (a few Delphi learning bumps excluded).  Some of these forms
are fairly complex and override many default behaviors (meaning extra
coding).  The key here is that you could code in a mature stable
language - Pascal.  

The third party market was a major factor in my decision to use and
support Delphi.  The system is very easy to extend.  I have found
hundreds of helpful code snippets and shareware components that I have
incorporated into my Delphi development.  These components allow you
to personalize your Delphi programming.  Over the years, I have
developed standards and my customers have developed expectations in
how software should work.  These third party (and some home grown)
extensions (components) have made this possible.  The ability to pay
someone ten to twenty bucks for something that will save you hours or
weeks of development time is nothing short of a miracle.

Delphi problems?  Sure, there is a lack of documentation that was
cured by an investment of a hundred bucks in third party books.
Pascal? Yep, had to relearn it.  And it is not the Pascal I learned
fif{*word*249} years ago. BDE trouble? It is way to slow at opening Paradox
files on a network.  My bigger customers can afford Oracle database
systems, but the little guys (whom are in the majority in the business
world) run peer networks of three to eight machines.  And the BDE is
slow on this platform (I don't know why it is slow opening files on a
network). But there have been no showstoppers.  Not even a serios
workaround.  I'm sure there are some Delphi developers who have found
a few roadblocks - but if your coding in the mainstream - you should
be fine.

I usually shy away from the first version of any development product
because of problems and feature shortcomings.  Delphi has broken the
mold here and is usuable in its first release for real, serious work.
Over the years I have tried many other products designed to help the
developer.  Some were trashed during the demo, some hung around for a
few years only to be left behind when they did not keep up with the
market (Clarion).  Others last forever (C).  I make a fair chunk of
change from all this and you have to be absolutely sure about your
development platform.  Each time I switch platforms I bet my
reputation and possibly my business.  Delphi has risen to the occasion
admirably.

Let me know if you have any other questions or need some help getting
started in Delphi.

Jim Hallers / Programmed Computer Solutions / Houston, Texas
Send replies to: jhall...@io.com or call 713.785.1081 to speak in
person.  Quality business automation solutions since 1984.

OK Im putting on my flameproof suit now....

Delphi is an excellent concept in GUI programming
for the Windows environment, arguably the best not
just in the Windows world but in any environment full stop.
What I wouldn't do for a UNIX/X version....
It certainly leaves VB for dead.

However as for "industral strength" development
environment and technical support it is perhaps the
worst.

There are numerous serious bugs in both
the development environment and in the apps
produced. However most of these latter ones
appear to be based in the library not in the
compiler itself. In order to fix the bugs you
will need the source code for the library
i.e. the VCL pack as well. This also gets you
a "real de{*word*81}" (the IDE one is OK for simple
stuff but dont cut it for serious work).

The Desktop and VCL RAD packs will set you back
quite a bit but dont expect good tech support
cos there aint any. Recently they seem to allow
you to lodge bugs in the Web site without a PIN
number but dont expect any fix. I suspect that
the Windows 95 version takes preference over
any bugs in the Windows 3.1 app.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Name:      Dr Jon Jenkins    Location: Digital Equipment Corporation NaC
Voice/Fax: 61-7-55-75-0151/100         Burnett Place, Research Park,
Inet:      jenki...@ozy.dec.com        Bond University, Gold Coast
Close Proximity: "HEY YOU !!!"         QLD, AUSTRALIA 4229
"Daddy, what's outside the Universe?" (My 5 year old.....)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I have written 2 projects with Delphi.  Both commerical.  The first is a
standalone graphing package.  I had more trouble with the graphing engine
than Delphi.  The second is a secured access program (which is currently
getting a new version number and improved security).

It may be true that alot of shareware/freeware is written in VB or C++,
but that doesn't mean that Delphi isn't any good.  So far the only I've
seen that Delphi can't do that C++ can is multiple inhertience.  I'm not
a C++ programmer so there may be something else.

I think Delphi is an excellent language and aside from some assembler now
and then it's the only language that I use.

Dale
tris...@vci.net