In article <rjohnson-2209950942020...@dal04-14.ppp.iadfw.net>, rjohn...@iadfw.net (Robert C. Johnson) says:
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>I am looking at purchasing Delphi for a project I am starting on, and
>would like some feedback as to whether Delphi is the right product for me
>or not. This is an in house development, and working in a visual
>environment really doesn't mean much to me.
It will when you see how easy it makes development...
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>However, speed of execution
>and ease of programming does mean a great deal.
Delphi has this in spades...
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>A few other things I
>need: The ability to link records with an unlimited amount of other
>records (for example, the record for "John Smith" would need to be
>attached to potentially millions of other records. These other records
>would also need links back to the "owner" and could have many owners.
>Is the standard Borland Database Engine capable of this type of relational
>attachment? Is there any limit to the number of attachments I can have?
YES and NO. Yes, it is definitely capable of these kinds of relational
links, and NO, there are no limits to the number of attachments you
can have. Limited only by system resources, as far as I know.
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>Is Delphi multi-user capable? Can I have one big database and have
>multiple clients accessing it without fear of coruption (I assume basic
>locking functions are available, but I need to make sure!).
Absolutely. The database engine that comes with Delphi is the Paradox
database, and I have written multi-user apps with it for years now. I
depend on it. Corruption CAN happen if the user turns off the PC in the
middle of an operation (usually a writing operation), but this is rare.
Even if it happens, table rebuilds are ridiculously easy. If the thought
of this scares you, though, you should be using a client-server
architecture to protect against that sort of thing, using a back-end
database server. Fortunately, Delphi does this very well, too. I'm
developing client software right now based on an Informix back end.
See my resume (listed in my signature at the end of this message) to
see examples of the kinds of applications I've done using Borland's
Paradox database engine.
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>Next question: How fast is Delphi? Remember, I don't care about
>graphics, but I do care about working in NT, OS/2 or 95 (I need the
>multi-tasking and 32 bit operations).
Well, Delphi is fast (it compiles to an .EXE file, even), but I don't
see how that's related to NT, OS/2, or 95. Delphi will be 32-bit
in a few months. The Windows 95 version is almost here, and all your
applications developed with the current 16-bit version are expected to
be able to compile fine into the 32-bit environment (assuming you don't
call Windows API functions that will not be supported by 32-bit Windows).
No OS/2 version, though.
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>I guess the real question, now that you know my basic requirements, is:
>Do I really want Delphi? Would I be better off getting Paradox, or FoxPro
>or something similar which is _not_ graphical?
1. Paradox IS graphical, as much as any Windows app is, unless you're
talking about Pdox for DOS.
2. What difference does it make whether it's graphical or not?
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>I really would like to get
>Delphi (I've been using Borland Pascal for years) but not if its not the
>right tool for the job. . .
You should try to get someone to show it to you. That will tell you more
than anything else. You can also visit Borland's web site
(http://www.borland.com/)
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Kendall Jackman
Paradox and Delphi Development
See my resume at: http://www.xmission.com/~igeme/kjresume/
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