Objective comparison between FreePascal/Lazarus and Delphi

[vgo]

Not sure about the objectiveness, but anyway...

- Documentation is even worse than in current Delphi version (Delphi 7 had the best documentation by far)
- No cnWizards or any other IDE plugins (I can't live without cnWizards!)
- Very limited number of components, many 3rd party components are for Delphi only
+ Cross-compiling that actually works (Using CodeTyphon)

[chronozphere]

At this point, I still use Delphi alot for my projects because it just feels comfortable. Allthough FPC/Laz have a great featureset, delphi is very stable and does it's job well. I would love to start using FPC/Laz for all my code, but there are a couple of things getting in my way.

> I've found that the delphi debugger works great in 95% of the cases, but GDB let me down way more often. It often gives me errors like: Symbol not found in context or similar. I just tried to debug an application, but it didn't work AT ALL. It just seemed to hang in debug mode after I hit F9... Ctrl+F2 doesn't help, and after some time the application will be shut down automatically (Do note that I am using an automatic build of a few days back). Also, each time I start my application (with certain linker options) i get a SIGSEGV error from the debugger, which is really annoying when you want to test your software quickly. I want to feel comfortable with these things, but I always end up getting annoyed by these issues.
> In delphi, I love to CTRL-click somewhere to jump to the definition. I really miss that in Lazarus.
> On ubuntu, it is not possible to restore the entire IDE with one action. I have to maximize every single IDE window separately, which slows me down quite a lot.
> And a nitpick: The delphi compiler seems quite a bit quicker than FPC. Not a big issue for me though, but it belongs in the list.

I want to start using FPC for the following reasons:

> Cross platform and 64bit support. ofcourse!
> I like how lightweight it is compared to Delphi, yet offering a lot of tools and components.
> I like the FPC pascal dialect (for example the +=, -= operators) and the fact that it's a bit more strict than the delphi syntax here and there.
> And it's opensource!! Would like to contribute someday, when I have a good idea for an extra feature.

I'd love to use FPC/Laz more often, when they are more stable and have a good debugger. That's their main problem now, so I believe. Now, I still use delphi mostly, but I try to keep my code FPC compatible.

Just my $0.02.

[User137]

> I've found that the delphi debugger works great in 95% of the cases, but GDB let me down way more often. It often gives me errors like: Symbol not found in context or similar. I just tried to debug an application, but it didn't work AT ALL. It just seemed to hang in debug mode after I hit F9... Ctrl+F2 doesn't help, and after some time the application will be shut down automatically (Do note that I am using an automatic build of a few days back). Also, each time I start my application (with certain linker options) i get a SIGSEGV error from the debugger, which is really annoying when you want to test your software quickly. I want to feel comfortable with these things, but I always end up getting annoyed by these issues.

Sometimes this hints for lack of debug information in the project settings. There are alot of options for compiler options, and you also need to take out all code optimizations for smoother debugging. Also if the SIGSEGV is caused by a DLL like OpenGL or DirectX even Delphi can't trace what the problem is.

> In delphi, I love to CTRL-click somewhere to jump to the definition. I really miss that in Lazarus.
> On ubuntu, it is not possible to restore the entire IDE with one action. I have to maximize every single IDE window separately, which slows me down quite a lot.
> And a nitpick: The delphi compiler seems quite a bit quicker than FPC. Not a big issue for me though, but it belongs in the list.

In Lazarus you can Ctrl-click to jump to definition. And also Ctrl+Shift+Down to jump to implementation. All keys and controls are configurable.
I have not noticed any speed issues so far. Apps start really fast, on Windows 7 at least. I read some compiler options increased the speed greatly for Linux aswell, smart linking be 1 of them?

I don't even consider using Delphi anymore, though i have old Delphi 7 still installed. FPC/Lazarus is free which is the main thing. And as far as actual coding with the IDE go, i'm starting to like Lazarus alot. Have also managed to get 1 or 2 past issues fixed with the bug ticket system

[wodzu]

Hello.

I am not biased towards Delphi or FPC\L, if I am biased towards anything it is Pascal language in general ;-)

What I do like in FPC\Lazarus compared to Delphi:

IDE is faster and does not need the .NET crap!!
Crossplatform possibilities - does it require any comments? FPC + OpenGL + SDL is way to go!!!
If you discover a bug and report it, you will get a response (response not fix) in a matter of day or even hours. I've reported two bugs so far, and one has been solved in one day and the other in one week. I think it is very fast compared to Delphi in which some bug exists for years.

What I miss in FPC\Lazarus

The ability to see a mistake in your code in the time you made it. Delphi underlines erroneus code with red "line". (Altought this feature is sometimes buggy atleast in Delphi 2007)
The native debbuger. Delphi debugger is way better, and I doubt that the debugger for FPC will be ever released. However, I fully understand how complicated thing is to write one for crossplatform language. So it is on my big whish list but I accept the reality ;-)

[wagenheimer]

+1 to FPC/Lazarus Support! It is very good!

I posted some questions and I had reply in a matter of hours!

[WILL]

+1 to FPC/Lazarus Support! It is very good!

I posted some questions and I had reply in a matter of hours!

This doesn't always happen. I posted a suggestion/comment about a problem in documentation and I got told to go fix it myself. No additional information on where to look for the correct information or how elaboration on my problem. I was also being accused of being lazy.

[Murmandamus]

Just wanted to let you all know that I am compiling and collating these (and some of my own) into a list which I am planning to edit into my original post. I would like to expand into some details as well, but I'll get to that shortly.

The main goal is a "quick reference" with details that can be amended as time goes on (as well as helping me decide on tools; I like to turn my research efforts into something more broadly usable by others; I might as well, the work is being done anyway ).

[Murmandamus]

This doesn't always happen. I posted a suggestion/comment about a problem in documentation and I got told to go fix it myself. No additional information on where to look for the correct information or how elaboration on my problem. I was also being accused of being lazy.

That, sadly, is all-too-common in a lot of FOSS projects. Documentation is always the red-headed stepchild, and those who point out deficiencies in such a critical resource all too often get treated similarly.

There is simply no need for that kind of treatment, IMHO. All it takes is a little bit of effort to put in a bit of documentation infrastructure, say a basic wiki or outlining system, and gentle / courteous encouragements as well as enthusiastically answering queries by people who are doing the documentation effort.