Tomahawk

358

15 августа 2003 года

moonmike

423 / / 18.10.2002

Abstract: J.P. LeBlanc, newly appointed vice president and general manager
of the BorlandR C++ and Mobile solutions group, writes an open letter to
members of the Borland C++ developer community on the next generation
Borland C++ product line.

Open Letter to the Borland C++ Developer Community
In our 20 years of history as a development solutions company in the
software industry, Borland has played a key role in the evolution and
innovation for the C and C++ developer community. With the support of loyal
customers like you, Borland has established itself as a leader in developing
and delivering C and C++ solutions for both the WindowsR and LinuxR
platforms.

As a further sign of our commitment to this marketplace, Borland formed in
April of this year, a new C++ and Mobile solutions group targeted at serving
both C and C++ developers. This open letter is written to inform you, the
Borland C++ developer, of our next generation C++ product currently being
developed in the Borland labs.

Current Trends in the C++ Market
Sometimes discounted as a mature legacy market, the C++ tools market is
still an active market that we believe will hold steady for the next several
years. Borland is well established in this market based on our large
existing C++ developer community, our history in this market and our
reputation for delivering innovative solutions for the C++ developer:

1. Standards. After a temporary moratorium on changes to the ANSI/ISO
C++ 1998 standard, the standards committee is accepting proposals for new
directions to the standard. Today, many compilers are still aiming to
achieve compliancy with the current standard. We believe that compliance to
the ANSI/ISO standards is key to delivering on the promise of C++
portability.


2. Multiple platform support. A large number of today's C++
applications are deployed on or target multiple platforms. As a result,
writing standard ANSI/ISO C++ compliant code once and recompiling for other
targets is highly desirable. Unfortunately, this is not always possible
because of the disparity and incompatibilities between the numerous C++ tool
chains. These differences are even more prevalent amongst those applications
targeting UNIXR platforms requiring migration to IntelR Linux platforms.


3. Supporting and maintaining existing C++ code. Analysts predict
that professional C and C++ developers will remain the largest community of
developers through 2005*. The C and C++ languages have been used for several
decades and there are millions of lines of code that need to be maintained.
In some cases, this code is very fragile -- original developers are no
longer available and weak documentation has made extension/modifications
nearly impossible. C++ developers need the latest in application lifecycle
tools to manage this effectively.


4. Performance Computing. C++ remains the choice for highly scalable
and high performance applications. Runtime performance, size of code and
hardware accessibility still make C++ the language of choice for building
the type of applications frequently found in the finance, manufacturing,
telecom, defense and automotive industries. Many of these developers are
using non-integrated tools and are eager for solutions that allow them to
build better software faster.


5. Mobile and embedded device computing. As many other languages
support the multitude of new mobile, handheld and embedded devices, there
has been a strong commitment for C++ as the language of choice for these
platforms. Because size and speed are essential to building these
applications, the majority of mobile developers are building applications in
C++. Today, many of these developers are using low level tools and libraries
to deliver small and fast applications. The complexity, breadth and depth of
these development environments are often a barrier to entry for the large
number of application developers wanting to focus on the business process to
be implemented instead of the technology required to build these
applications.


New Product Vision
The upcoming version of BorlandR C++BuilderR will be our response to many
long hours of customer feedback, review of the current state of the existing
technology and sharp focus on developing a strong value proposition aligned
with the current industry trends. The resulting product vision will have
five main lines of thrust:

1. Build a development tool for the entire C++ market.

With this product, we focused on delivering the right IDE solution for the
majority of C++ developers. The project manager, code editor, compilers and
debuggers are all tightly integrated and designed to cater to the needs of
C++ development.

2. Lead in C++ standards compliancy

As a C++ solutions provider, our commitment is to build a new line of C++
compilers that offer developers the latest and complete ANSI/ISO C++ and C99
standards compliancy on both Intel and ARM platforms. The new compiler
architecture will be designed to deliver both a new compiler front end and
back end technology. This new back end technology has been designed to
provide the ability to target new hardware platforms, deliver new
optimization capabilities, and plug into a common compiler front end,
promoting code portability across platforms.

3. Provide a true C++ RAD visual development environment

In keeping with our commitment to enable developers to build better software
faster, this product will be designed with a new visual development
environment and support for multiple platform frameworks for all C++
developers. As currently planned, Borland will deliver a new, pure C++
framework, not requiring the use of any compiler extensions, and allowing
developers to easily build and deliver cross-platform applications.

4. Improved maintenance

As an essential and integral part of the product strategy, this new product
will be regularly maintained. As currently planned, built into the product
will be support for submitting deficiency reports and tracking any patches
and updates through an enhanced Borland Quality Central interface. More
importantly, Borland is committed to a regular maintenance schedule and a
commitment to conformance with evolving ANSI standards with scheduled
product updates.

5. Extend product with support for Application Lifecycle Management (ALM)
tools

In order to truly deliver the complete solution for the C++ developer, it is
anticipated that the new version of C++ Builder will integrate with the
latest and greatest Borland ALM technologies. In addition, Borland intends
to partner with key 3rd party software providers to include the latest in
software development innovation for the C++ developer, thus delivering on
our commitment to building better software by integrating and supporting
best in class solutions.

Call to Action
After investing many person-years of effort and over two years of scheduled
development time, Borland is preparing the release of its next C++ offering.
What can you do to influence and support this new product initiative? As a
minimum, we would like to you to participate in our on-going field test of
the product. Developers may register by sending email to [email]cppbeta@borland.com[/email]
(Subject: Borland C++ Beta Invitation Request) and requesting an invitation.

As a C++ developer, we hope that this new product offering will align with
your current and future C++ requirements and that we will have the pleasure
of serving you as a Borland C++ developer in the future. Borland is
committed to giving developers the freedom of choice and enabling the
development of better software faster.

* The 2001 IDC Developer Model

Legal Disclaimer:
The products are still being tested and developed by Borland, and may be
changed substantially before commercial release. Borland reserves the right
at any time not to release or to discontinue release of any product
(including a commercial release) and to alter prices, features,
specifications, capabilities, functions, licensing terms, release dates,
general availability or other characteristics of any future releases of the
product. In no event shall Borland be obligated to provide you a copy of the
commercial release version of any product in connection with your
participation in the beta program.