Over the weekend I got to play with one of my favorite old technologies: Object Pascal, in the form of the Free Pascal Compiler and the Lazarus project. Lazarus is an Open Source reimplementation of what is, IMHO, the best RAD tool of all time: Delphi (originally Borland Delphi, then CodeGear, then GodKnowsWhat, then SomeOtherCompany, currently Embarcadero Delphi).
I saved my money for a LONG time to buy Delphi 1.0 for Windows 3.1, and I loved it to death. It ran rings around Visual Basic in ease of use, power, speed, and elegance; it was 100% object-oriented, and its class library was both very comprehensive and extremely well designed.
Unfortunately, Borland, sorry, Embarcadero prices it out of the reach of ordinary people, especially if you want a version that can connect to a database. Lazarus is rough around the edges and glitchy, but:
- It works,
- It’s multiplatform, and
- It’s free and Free
So after struggling for a while I got Lazarus running, and the old Delphi love came rushing back. There’s no better way to throw a quick user interface together for a project and (if you need it) its immense power and flexibility are still there.
Plus, you gotta love programming in Pascal in 2010!
