> I just downloaded Lazarus / Free Pascal, and I like what I see. I'm already an accomplished programmer with Python and Java. However, I'm liking Lazarus / Free Pascal's ability to write once & compile anywhere. So, I'm thinking pretty hard about using it for an application I'm planning. It will be a fairly complex database front end.
It's interesting to know that a Python/Java programmer could be interested to Pascal. Python and Java is already cross platform, though slightly different with pascal as it goes with
write once and run everywhere. Can you share with us, what are the main reasons why you're interested in FPC/Laz since Python and Java is able to do the job?
> 1. Is Lazarus / Free Pascal alive and vital? From what I can tell, it looks like there are a small number of people putting fairly consistent work into it, and forum posts seem a little slow and sparse compared to some other forums I'm used to working with. What can you tell me about the state of Laz/Pascal, it's community, etc? Is it here for the long haul, or is it on the way out?
FPC/Laz is alive and will always be. I've been following this project for more than 2 years and it shows very wonderful progress. However, Pascal both as language and community is niche.
> 2. Realisticallly speaking, how much trouble is it to get GUIs to be cross-platform with macs? (I'm working on a Linux box, but I must be able to port to macs without it being an utter nightmare.) I've seen the posts on the wiki about this, but I'd like to get current thoughts on it.
I'm using FPC/Laz on Mac x86
and Linux on daily basis. Sorry, I got no windows machine.
I'm using Carbon widgetset on Mac (Cocoa is on the way) and gtk2 on Linux. Both widgetsets are fairly stable and very usable. As long as you keep working on RTL and LCL level, there's almost no differences between the two widgetsets. Sometimes you got a little bit "incompatibility" here and there, but this can be solved easily using IFDEFs and you should report the problem to mantis. FPC/Laz does "write once and compile everywhere" very well.
> 3. What are the greatest remaining weaknesses with Laz/Pascal? Where might I hit walls in designing applications with embedded databases and cross-platform GUIs?
So far, I see Laz's db-aware components are not quite ready for production. But since I don't need db-aware components because I use my own database-cache classes and display the data on standard controls (no db-aware), it's no problem at all to me. Anyway, it becomes more no problem as I gradually converting my dektop apps to web based apps. Yes, still using pascal (FPC/Laz).
HTH.
-Bee-