Re: [BLACKBOX] Years ahead of its time

From: [at]} <Rex>
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 18:00:49 -0500

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At 01:52 PM 9/8/2009, Marc Martin wrote:
>> And so, why is Delphi more popular than BlackBox?
>
>I always figured it was because it was more backwards
>compatible with the original Pascal... and that
>programmers didn't like some of the changes, notably:
>
> uppercase keywords
> case sensitivity
> missing WRITELN, READLN, etc.
> missing enumerated types



        Bingo! From my point of view it's great but unfinished. And there are many kinds of programs I can write that require being able to detect a keystroke. Neither BB nor Delphi can do that, but at least with Delphi I was able to buy a suitable library.

        You can add to that list:
--odd method of use
--not designed to create programs (i.e., .EXE files)
--the limited number of data types (e.g., 2-byte unsigned integers)
--no stepwise debugger
--lack of smart linking

For most people it just doesn't meet their requirements. And post-mortem traps are nice, but I suspect most people prefer stepwise debugging and inspection of variables.

        I have to tell you that I was gung-ho to start using BB and add some documentation to the cook books. I worked long and hard on three projects. I failed miserably on all of them, and all of them were deal breakers. They were all a little outside the intended target for BB, and my Windows programming skills were not up to it.

Rex Couture

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Received on Wed Sep 09 2009 - 01:00:49 UTC