Randal:
Overall I'm very disappointed with the new version. Let me elaborate a
little.
Just over 2 years ago, we took the decision to move future development
to .Net, and after trying C#Builder 1.0, we came to the conclusion that
this was not a serious programming environment, with far too many bugs
and quirks, so we went with VS2003 (and more recently VS2005). In the
last 2 years I can only say we are delighted with its productivity and
ease of use. No hangs and *very* robust IDE.
As we have *many* BCB projects we need to provide legacy support and
even enhancements so we took the decision to upgrade to BDS2006.
The IDE is, in general, much better than BCB5/6, but sincerely I was
expecting more, maybe because I have been spoilt with VS2005. For example:
- Refactoring is non existent (only Rename!).
- Code folding is only just implemented, just has it's own mind and
fully expands when it feels like it.
- The background of a DataModule does not repaint when you move
components about on it's surface. This is of no consequence at all, but
does show a lack to attention to detail.
- The IDE is still as unstable as it's most unstable package. They
don't seem to have been able to isolate the packages exceptions from the
IDE, giving the impression that the IDE is unstable (which it's not). I
don't know, technically, how difficult it is to isolate this sort of
error, but Visual Studio seems to have cracked it.
- Thanks to a 3rd party plugin, the compilers for all C++Builder
versions are now lightning fast, what a shame Borland haven't paid this
amount of attention to sorting a chronic problem that has persisted for
years!
- Code Template expansion is a disaster. It won't expand with Ctrl-J
depending where you are on a line of code. I used to use this alot.
- Having being launched after NET 2, it's a shame VCL.NET does not
recognize and take advantage of it's new possibilities. (Okay, I know I
have wandered off course and are now speaking about Delphi!)
- The worst thing about the new IDE id the Object Browser window. It
has it's own mind and does exactly what *it* wants to do, and not what
*I* want it to do. The width of the slideout window is virtually random
and changes at will, sometime occupying the whole screen. Other times it
will slide closed while I'm writing to one of it's properties contents.
The vertical separation line will change width practically every time
the window slides open. This a real pain in the *&%$.* and again a lack
of attention to detail.
On the plus side, it's more stable and I think it's quicker than
previous versions of BCB. Code completion is great and pretty quick.
Compatibility with previous versions is very good also. The debug
tooltip drilldown is a nice feature (I got used to this under VS)
I'm anxiously awaiting a service pack to address some of these issues,
which is a bit of a shame as the product has just been released!!
Just my 2 cents worth...
MartinH.
Randall Parker escribi?
Quote
I'm curious now that BCB 2006 has been out long enough for people to log
some mileage with it for those who have been using it what are your
impressions?
Notice anything different about the compiler?
Fewer linker bugs?
De{*word*81} any better?
CodeGuard work okay?
Code completion fast?
Any annoying bugs fixed?
Any annoying bugs still there?
Any new bugs?
How fast is the IDE?
Are project settings any easier to deal with setting?
Any support for multiple build configurations in a single project? Say
with and without CodeGuard? (my most used two variations)
Any other impressions?