
Lazarus 1.8 released: cross-platform GUI builder and IDE for Pascal - open-source-ux
http://forum.lazarus.freepascal.org/index.php/topic,39210.0.html?PHPSESSID=sc8hh02s2povlfof91j3chhpo1
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beagle3
FreePascal is awesome, Lazarus is too.

If you like FreePascal and are not yet familiar with [http://nim-
lang.org](http://nim-lang.org) , check it out - it is inspired by Pascal and
Python, compiles quickly to standalone binaries (like free pascal) or
JavaScript, or C, or C++ or Objective C.

But it doesn't have anything resembling Lazarus .... I wish it did.

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girvo
It’s not the same, and it’s not there yet, but perhaps eventually something
could be built from nimx or similar.

[https://github.com/yglukhov/nimx](https://github.com/yglukhov/nimx)

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wiz21c
Why would one choose Pascal as a basis for a new development ? I ask the
question in a fair way and as someone who has written a lot of code in
TurboPascal ages ago (and enjoyed it enormously). I wonder what it feels to
develop production code with Pascal compared to say Java or Python. From those
days, I remember the speed of the compiler (but my projects were not big) and
the clean language.

~~~
open-source-ux
Lazarus + FreePascal is an excellent choice if you want to create desktop GUI
apps that are:

\- fast to run (and compile)

\- native and cross-platform from a single code base

\- memory-efficient to run (depends on your code of course)

\- easy to distribute via a single self-contained exe file with no
dependencies

You might think lots of popular languages today can do all the above, but
surprisingly there are fewer than you think.

For example, using a dynamic language to create desktop apps will often
require gluing together lots of separate libraries and packaging them into a
single bundle using another third-party tool. And that's even before you get
to speed of execution and responsiveness (yes, performance does matter).

Like other posters have said, Pascal doesn't give you features you won't find
in other languages, although if you're coming from a dynamic language, Pascal
might make you think a little differently about how you solve problems due to
its strong and strict typing features.

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piaste
How is FreePascal's interop story? It would be super interesting if you could
use Lazarus to build the GUI around a library written in a language with a
larger ecosystem and/or with more powerful safety features.

~~~
poizan42
You can link to anything with a C ABI just by declaring the functions
external[0], there's also tools for automating conversion from C header file
declarations[1].

[0]: [https://www.freepascal.org/docs-
html/prog/progsu147.html](https://www.freepascal.org/docs-
html/prog/progsu147.html) [1]:
[http://wiki.freepascal.org/Creating_bindings_for_C_libraries](http://wiki.freepascal.org/Creating_bindings_for_C_libraries)

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geff82
It is still an amazing tool if you want to build classic desktop applications
or games. Blazingly fast, easy to use. Not fancy in the Visual
Studio/Jetbrains way, but it always feels rock solid to work with.

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boznz
Is becoming my new tool of choice, just keeps getting better and better, keep
up the good work chaps..

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vram22
Yes, Lazarus is good. Here is a screenshot of a digital clock app that I
created using Lazarus and FreePascal, on Windows. I use it on a daily basis on
my PC. Just need to Alt-Tab to it or click on its icon in my taskbar,, to
check the current time, on my laptop. Bigger font than the time in the system
tray, so easier to read at a glance.

[https://imagebin.ca/v/3kMOLN2Ru4gc](https://imagebin.ca/v/3kMOLN2Ru4gc)

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zerr
What it would take to add C++ support?

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Roboprog
I highly doubt anybody seeking out to create and use an Object Pascal
development environment wants anything to do with C++.

Perhaps you meant to say "Eiffel"? :-)

YMMV.

~~~
badsectoracula
It would be useful to create tools for existing codebases. For example ~10
years ago when i worked at a game company, we were considering C++ Builder to
create the tools for the engine because we could use the engine libraries
directly (the engine was really a collection of many small libraries). However
that idea was abandoned because C++ Builder at the time had very bad support
for C++ (a few years ago they switched to Clang and modified it to use their
C++ extensions, but that was too little too late - and AFAIK it wasn't 100%
compatible with the previous compiler).

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souenzzo
No export to HTML5 support?

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badsectoracula
No, but if you separate the logic from the presentation you can use the LazWeb
(or FclWeb, i don't remember) components to create a web-based frontend for
the application. There is also a separate framework called Brooks that is
supposedly more comprehensive, but i haven't tried that (and TBH i have only
touched LazWeb/FclWeb only a little).

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pjbrunet
From the documentation, looks like TP 5 from my high school days :-)

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dragonwriter
Modern Object Pascal is a linear descendant of Turbo Pascal, so the
resemblance isn't coincidental.

OTOH, it's not the _same_ , much as modern C isn't the same as K&R C.

