Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 1st May 2012 21:59 UTC
Wow. "One crazy idea that the team had at that dinner was to translate Android's source code to C#. Android would benefit from C# performance features like structures, P/Invoke, real generics and our more mature runtime. [...] We decided it was crazy enough to try. So we started a small skunkworks project with the goal of doing a machine translation of Android from Java to C#. We called this project XobotOS." Most of Android's layouts and controls are now in C#. The small benchmark is stunning, but as much as I admire the work, I'm wondering that this like going from bad to worse - from Oracle's Java to Microsoft's C#.
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Member since:2006-05-12
It is a shame Object Pascal/Delphi never became more popular.
It looks like CodeGear and the Delphi trademark are now owned by Embarcadero technologies. They might make a good acquisition for Google and to be honest Google probably should have bought up CodeGear for the ~23 million Embarcadero paid Borland for it in 2008.
Also, to add to this, the primary developer responsible for Delphi eventually went on to work at Microsoft to make J++ and C#. Partly because of this extending Delphi to do what Google needs it to do would legally be cleaner than starting from scratch.
Edited 2012-05-02 05:10 UTC
RE[2]: Comment by snorkel1
by moondevil on Wed 2nd May 2012 06:17
in reply to "RE: Comment by snorkel1"
Member since:2005-07-08
Member since:2006-05-30
I can't believe the load of bull love for C#, it's not that great, I would take Free Pascal over C# any day.
Pascal is a compiled language with no garbage collection. C# is a garbage collected language that targets a VM. <sarcasm> Yes, I can see why they are exactly the same. </sarcasm> You may as well have said "why don't they use Python" or some other random language. Object Pascal is something I did as a day job for over 10 years, I know enough to tell you that you are delusional.
You also don't even know basic facts about C# and the CLR, as proven by your next statement:
P/Invoke is a freaking pain in the ass, I don't have to do any of that crap with Free Pascal and or Delphi
You prove you are clueless. Yes you do. Frequently. How do you import a function in a library in Borland's Object Pascal dialect?
procedure Foo(X: Integer); external 'BAR';
How do you do this in C#?
[DllImport("bar.dll")] void Foo( int X);
Or, if you are going to be pedantic and insist on Pascal, in Delphi Prism :
[DllImport("bar.dll")] procedure Foo(X: integer); external;
Yeah, so very different and so very hard. <sarcasm> Let's hate on P/Invoke because the syntax is just ridiculously complicated, yeah, impossible... </sarcasm>
and I have Generics etc.
No, you have "kinds of generics". The FreePascal version is more like templates (and depending on compiler build can be quite broken in my experience) and the Delphi version depends on which flavour you mean. Delphi Prism uses .Net, Delphi for Windows uses Borland/Codegear "version" and Delphi for Mac OS X and iOS uses FreePascal, which is not an exact analogue.
RE[2]: Comment by snorkel1
by Rugxulo on Wed 2nd May 2012 20:10
in reply to "RE: Comment by snorkel1"
Member since:2007-10-09
Pascal is a compiled language with no garbage collection. C# is a garbage collected language that targets a VM. Yes, I can see why they are exactly the same.
FPC now has optional JVM target support. Also, don't forget that Pascal's cousin, Oberon, does have garbage collection. So it's not that far of a stretch.
"and I have Generics etc.
No, you have "kinds of generics". The FreePascal version is more like templates (and depending on compiler build can be quite broken in my experience) and the Delphi version depends on which flavour you mean. "
I could be wrong, but I think FPC now supports both kinds of generics (their own and the Delphi variant).
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/13/13 14:35 UTC
The third and final WWDC product I want to talk about is - of course - OS X 10.9 Mavericks. While iOS 7 was clearly the focus of this year's WWDC, its venerable desktop counterpart certainly wasn't left behind. Apple announced OS X 10.9 Mavericks, the first OS X release not to carry the name of a big cat.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/11/13 17:07 UTC
We already talked about iOS 7 yesterday (after a night of sleep, it's only looking worse and worse - look at this, for Fiona's sake!), so now it's time to talk about the downright stunning and belly flutters-inducing new Mac Pro. As former owner and huge, huge, huge fan of the PowerMac G4 Cube - I haven't been this excited about an Apple product since, well, I would say the iMac G4. This is the Apple I used to love.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/10/13 23:13 UTC
Apple held its big keynote event thing at WWDC earlier this evening, but since I was away with friends I've had to read up on it later in the evening. The company announced iOS 7, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, and they gave a preview of the new Mac Pro. Especially the Mac Pro impressed me, and while iOS 7's new Holo/Metro-inspired theme looks messy and garish to me, I do commend Apple for finally breaking the mold. This news item will focus on iOS 7 - I'll dive into the Mac Pro and OS X 10.9 tomorrow (it's late here now).
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/08/13 14:57 UTC
And yes, the PRISM scandal is far, far from over. More and more information keeps leaking out, and the more gets out, the worse it gets. The companies involved have sent out official statements - often by mouth of their CEOs - and what's interesting is that not only are these official statements eerily similar to each other, using the same terms clearly designed by lawyers, they also directly contradict new reports from The New York Times. So, who is lying?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/07/13 11:40 UTC
This story is getting bigger and bigger. Even though most Americans probably already knew, it is now official: the United States government, through its National Security Agency, is collecting the communications and data of all American citizens, and of non-Americans using American services, through a wide collaboration with the large companies in technology, like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and so on. Interestingly enough, the NSA itself, as well as the US government, have repeatedly and firmly denied this massive spying on Americans and non-Americans took place at all.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/04/13 12:45 UTC
Ah, patents - the never-ending scourge of the technology industry. Whether wielded by companies who don't actually make any products, or large corporations who abuse them because they can't compete in the market place or because they're simply jerks, they do the industry a huge disservice and are simply plain dangerous. According to The Wall Street Journal (circumvention link), president Obama is about to take several executive actions to address patent trolls - which may seem like a good idea, but I am very worried that all this will do is strengthen the positions of notorious patent system abusers such as Apple and Microsoft.
Linked by nfeske on 05/31/13 10:12 UTC
With version 13.05, the developers of the Genode OS Framework take measures to ensure that Genode continues to scale well with a growing number of users and the steadily broadening platform coverage. Further highlights are the improved SoC support for Exynos 5, OMAP4, Raspberry Pi, i.MX, and new components for realizing headless systems.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/29/13 16:59 UTC
At the D11 conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook once again took the stage to be interviewed by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. While most of the interview can be replicated by picking and reading 10 random Apple fanblog stories - there were still a number of very interesting things that warrant some closer scrutiny.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 17:26 UTC
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!More Features »
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Member since:
2012-02-25
I can't believe the load of bull love for C#, it's not that great, I would take Free Pascal over C# any day.
P/Invoke is a freaking pain in the ass, I don't have to
do any of that crap with Free Pascal and or Delphi and I have Generics etc.
They could have easily used Free Pascal instead of Java to make a Phone OS.....