Porting the Objective-C CFFTPSample to XE2: Part 1

[Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes] On the NZ DUG email list (yes, we still have those here) a question was recently posted asking for help with getting some FTP code working on OSX, using XE2. This coincided nicely with my reaching a point in my Objective-C learning where this sort of exercise was of interest to me also, so I decided to try porting the CFFTPSample from the Apple Developer reference materials as a learning exercise.

Using History to Make Sense of the Present

[Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes] In a recent post on interop in .NET framework, Jeroen Pluimers wrote “I don’t see COM as the first class citizen it was in the VB6 era.” I always find it funny when the .NET camp start poo-pooing COM and dismissing it as yesterdays technology that some people just can’t seem to let go of (apologies to Jeroen if this was not his intention in this case).

Poll: FireMonkey or “Platform Native” ?

[Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes] We have had almost a year of monkeying with fire now – enough time I think for people to have formed a view as to whether it is truly a viable multi-platform framework for the future, or just a convenient cross-platform solution with limited, genuine utility. At the same time, we have had OS X and some iOS support for the same period, with the prospect of more platforms being made available to us Delphi developers in the future. So, looking ahead, do we see FireMonkey as providing a solid foundation for a cross-platform future, or would we prefer to see tighter, closer “native” support for MULTIPLE-platforms (both currently supported and envisaged/promised) ? I know what I think: As much as I’d prefer to use ObjectPascal, I quickly decided that using Delphi + FireMonkey for OS X / iOS was like trying to ice-skate uphill. I couldn’t shake off the feeling that the disconnect between me, my code and the environment I was writing for was going to be a source of nothing but constant pain and frustration, and so decided to learn Objective-C and Xcode instead. I anticipate this will be only worse when it comes to Android, so Read More…

The Emperors New Native

[Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes] Perhaps this post should be sub-titled: Say a Lie Often Enough and You’ll Start Believing it Yourself Apparently some product called ERPLY (yeah, me neither) now has a “great new FireMonkey native UI”.  FireMonkey ?  Native UI ?  Unless there has been a radical rewrite of FireMonkey in XE3 and the people behind ERPLY have early access to an unfeasibly stable build of XE3 to have created their product using it, this claim is just errant nonsense.

Charles Petzold Rides Again (+ praise for Kindle and O’Reilly)

[Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes] Like many I suspect, Charles Petzold’s “Programming Windows” was one of the most important books on my shelves for a long time, and it has been a long time since it was updated. With the advent of .NET many perhaps thought a new edition would never come (or indeed be needed). But a 6th Edition is on it’s way, and can be had for an absolute steal under a very creative pricing structure unveiled by O’Reilly.