joeware - never stop exploring... :)

…because yesterday I ordered the new Code Gear Builder Pro 2009 compiler/IDE and I paid for it in part with PayPal donations from some of you folks. I greatly appreciate the donations and as you can see just roll it right back into producing more products.

While I could start using the Visual Studio suite for producing my tools since I get it for free, I rather pay the $400 that it costs for me to get the Builder suite. I have used Borland C compilers for… well pretty much as long as I have written C code. It started with Turbo C when ever that came out and I have purchased nearly every C and C++ compiler they have produced since.

I used to have two issues with Microsoft compilers.

The first was that there was not a chance in hell that you could compile standard C/C++ code because the compiler was so convoluted and non-standard. Code I knew worked perfectly well I could paste into Visual Studio and it would blow up on. Well MSFT has that all fixed and is one of the most standards compliant compilers out there now (surprise!). I think the fact that they brought Herb Sutter on board helped tremendously with this.

The second issue, the issue I still have is the desire by MSFT to shove .NET down my throat. Sure, .NET is cool and all but I have no desire to use it yet. MSFT is trying to force me to. How? Well lets say I want to do a quick Service project, just a small little service to do something simple and want to build it in a “RAD” way. You can do that, assuming you want to use .NET. My Borland… err Code Gear Builder does not require .NET to do that. It does it with native code. I like native code. I also have A LOT of people who send me emails monthly saying how great it is that I use native code and how easy it is for them to move my stuff from machine to machine without worrying about what is already installed or not.

So anyway, if MSFT could get off the “all the cool stuff requires .NET” kick then maybe I would consider switching. In the meanwhile, a compiler I have to pay for wins over a compiler I get for free from MSFT.

   joe