Status on Lazarus-Carbon?

[JazzMan]

I find the Lazarus-Carbon implementation to be the most interesting and promising development of Lazarus OS X. Because it is the only real native option, and it does not require any extra DLL's or licenses...
(why not just drop the development of gtk, qt and wince implementations and focus on Carbon...  :wink: )

When I look at the roadmap, there are only a few components missing for the Carbon implementation, but does this give a true picture of the Carbon status. Are these the only things missing before I can make large professional native-carbon applications with Lazarus?

For example:
- are there interface units for *all* carbon functions and features?
- are there more general limitations or problems that also needs to be solved, e.g. in the compiler?
- are the general delphi units made for native carbon, e.g. Sysutils, etc.
- etc.

Any idea when the Carbon implementation will be complete?

Best regards,

[felipemdc]

Are these the only things missing before I can make large professional native-carbon applications with Lazarus?

I am part of team that will port a large professional software to native Carbon starting in aproximately 1 month. Our approach will be simple:

Just fix whatever isn't working that our application needs.

I suggest the same for others, so you can start immediately if you use this strategy.

If you don't want to write the patches yourself you can post a bounty:

http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Bounties

Or you can also post a bug report and wait until someone fixes your problem.

- are there interface units for *all* carbon functions and features?

Yes, up to the latest 10.4 only functions

- are there more general limitations or problems that also needs to be solved, e.g. in the compiler?

AFAIK, nothing else needs to be changed on the compiler.

- are the general delphi units made for native carbon, e.g. Sysutils, etc.

Those units are part of the Free Pascal Run Time Library.

They are related to the operating system, and not to the widgetset. They are available on Mac OS X regardless of which gui widgetset you use.

[Phil]

When I look at the roadmap, there are only a few components missing for the Carbon implementation, but does this give a true picture of the Carbon status. Are these the only things missing before I can make large professional native-carbon applications with Lazarus?

Yes, I think only a few widgets are all that stand between you and a complete tool for creating native apps on OS X.

The one really important widget that is still needed is the scroll bars. Tomas is working on this. Actually, a couple of additional widgets that are marked as "Not implemented" are basically functional with the exception of scroll bars. This includes TStringGrid and TTreeView. This means that if you need those widgets, you can still design with them in mind since they'll probably be fully functional soon after the scroll bars arrive.

One indication of how mature the Carbon widgetset is becoming is to see how well it works with 3rd party controls. See the table at the bottom of this page:

http://web.fastermac.net/~MacPgmr/OrphPort/OrphStatus.html

Carbon is now almost on a part with GTK with regard to Orpheus. That really says quite a bit about the Carbon widgetset, particularly its Win API support.

Thanks.

-Phil

[JazzMan]

Ok, I am about to be convinced ;-) I would of course finish the components I would need during the process, but it is nice to know, before I start, if I am supposed to spend 1 week or 6 months to finish the needed components :-D

What actually worries me the most right now, is that so few programmers use Delphi. I am going to hire a skilled Delphi programmer to work with me (in-house) on this OSX port and to develop my application further. This would be a full-time permanent job. However, I also need this programmer to be a (spare time) musician. When I look in various CV databases (in Denmark where I live), there are none!
This fact actually made me think about converting my application to C++... However, maybe I could find a musical Delphi programmer somewhere in the world who would like to move to Denmark...

Any ideas where I could advertise this job internationally?

(I know a remote programmer could be an option, but I don't like to send the source code out of my office)

Best regards,

[felipemdc]

Maybe you could do the opposite. Instead of looking for CVs, make a job advertisement and see who comes.

Maybe few people write on their CVs that they are spare time musicians (just a guess, I never used thos CVs websites).

[CWBudde]

I think I would be perfect for this job: Musical background (Keyboarder/Percussionist) working with Delphi for nearly 10 years now and currently moved to OSX. Trying to port my audio stuff to mac now.
However I'm still not done with my studies and I already have plenty of job offers. What a shame,

Christian

[Phil]

This fact actually made me think about converting my application to C++... However, maybe I could find a musical Delphi programmer somewhere in the world who would like to move to Denmark...

Any ideas where I could advertise this job internationally?

Find a programmer who is also a musician, never mind whether they know Delphi, and have them learn it. That's a lot easier than finding a Delphi programmer and making them into a musician or converting to C++. The syntactic differences between the major OOP languages are a low hurdle compared to becoming proficient in whatever the application area is (music, in your case).

Thanks.

-Phil

[JazzMan]

Thanks, I think you are both right. There might be more "hidden" musicians when I advertise the job.

I did not think about the posibility to convert a C++ programmer to see the light ;-) It is afterall much more important to get a skilled programmer than getting a programmer that knows Delphi.

Best regards,
Hans

[BP_BP]

Ok, I am about to be convinced ;-) I would of course finish the components I would need during the process, but it is nice to know, before I start, if I am supposed to spend 1 week or 6 months to finish the needed components :-D

What actually worries me the most right now, is that so few programmers use Delphi. I am going to hire a skilled Delphi programmer to work with me (in-house) on this OSX port and to develop my application further. This would be a full-time permanent job. However, I also need this programmer to be a (spare time) musician. When I look in various CV databases (in Denmark where I live), there are none!
This fact actually made me think about converting my application to C++... However, maybe I could find a musical Delphi programmer somewhere in the world who would like to move to Denmark...

Any ideas where I could advertise this job internationally?

(I know a remote programmer could be an option, but I don't like to send the source code out of my office)

Best regards,

Hi,

I'm working in UK now as Delphi Software Developer and I can play on guituar and I would like move to Denmark.

Please do not hesitate to contact with me.

BP