Lazy or Efficient ?

[Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes] In his most recent post, Chris Rolliston points out a gotcha resulting from a change in the VCL with XE3. The post itself is quite interesting and makes some valid and significant observations. However, in the follow up comments Chris makes the observation that the old code was lazy, relied on a compiler detail and should have been “properly” re-written, rather than replacing reliance on one compiler detail with another. I think it is worth highlighting that Chris’ observations here are – I believe – directed at the use of untyped pointers and dynamic arrays, not the use of the pointer exposed by the TList class itself, as the two things could easily be conflated when reading Chris’ post and the QC issue it refers to.

XE3 EULA: The Facts vs The Spin

[Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes] I wasn’t going to say anything further on this as it has been pretty much covered in the forums and on other blogs, but when a duly annointed “MVP” suggests that I should publish a post explaining that the news about the proposed changes in the EULA were FUD, then it behoves me to put some stark, plain facts on the table.

XE3 Released. Available to Download Now for SA Subscribers

[Estimated Reading Time: < 1 minutes] I just got an email from Embarcadero announcing the availability of XE3 for download from the Maintenance Portal. Both a 51 MB web installer and a 3.1 GB ISO are available. I don’t have any public links, and presumably anyone on SA will have received their notifications directly already. But for anyone not on SA, the public links will presumably be posted or announced shortly.

EULA Change: No Client/Server in XE3 Pro. Not even 3rd Party.

[Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes] I don’t enjoy posting this news. I really don’t. I had hoped that my next post would be a more positive report following the Auckland leg of the XE3 World Tour this morning (and that will come later today). But I feel this news is so important that it has to be mentioned, so here it is. From XE3 onwards, your Delphi Professional EULA will prohibit you from using Delphi Professional for anything other than local data access. If you want to build client/server database applications using Delphi Professional, you will be required to purchase a “Client/Server Add-On” pack.