pouët.net

just wonder if any one here uses pascal (delphi , freepascal) as a programming language for developing demos ? . i know maybe 100% here are c/c++ or asm .

I used freepascal for some of my textmode demos (from Tribute to Diet Cola), but haven't really used it since

I ported some stuff to GNU Pascal and it seemed to do the trick just fine, even if half of the time you spent writing a wrapper for C libraries. Yzi wrote an MSX graphics converter in Delphi/Lazarus.

delphi and pascal are great languages (i have done some projects in the past), but they are a little outdated today.

I have seen some professional programs (Skype anyone ?) and even demos made with delphi but the community and support is rater small.

the slowdown have been even more intensified when Borland main developer, Anders Hejlsberg, decided to move to Microsoft for C#

if you want to try some 3D stuff (opengl) with delphi i recommand this website : http://www.sulaco.co.za/opengl.htm (I know it since many years ago, i'm surprised it is still there)

If you want to move away from C/C++ (let's be honest C++ had horrible syntax and complicate lots of things, just think about header files). then i suggest trying C# + some great directX/opengl framework associated with it.

I used to program in Turbo Pascal back in the day (1989-1995), but switched over to C for Watcom C, which was Teh Sh17 at the time, allowing protected mode and everything without going pure asm.

Anyway, if you know C and asm, then it's possible to convert a lot of stuff quite straight from C source code, but it's going to be a lot of work, if you want to use "third party" code. Delphi is a great tool and a great language though. I used to do Delphi development for a living, and it's superbly productive. Everything is so nice, clean and elegant. And still it can be just as "low-level" as C. What sucks the most about it is that it's quite expensive, not open source, etc. And almost nobody in the demo scene is using it, so you'll be a bit on your own with many things.

Btw, Fruity Loops aka FL Studio is made in Delphi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FL_Studio

1993 called.

C# is Delphi on steroids and basically super-seeded it. Both share the same lead architect, btw. Some bigger legacy apps use Delphi, but overall it seems awfully quite around those parts. It's a bit of a niche language (as part of the .NET cosmos), now more than ever.

And yes, tons of demos (and some intros) were made in Pascal/Delphi, f.e. most of what Ainc. did. I also did one 4k in TP and six smaller demos later with Delphi on Windows, because for a time is was the only alternative for people who came from Dos and who didn't like "Visual" C++/Basic, while Java was still in its infancy and Javascript a joke. :)

(Not to mention the terror that was "Turbo Pascal for Windows". :P)

only
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it's a little bit off topic but is there any way to compile C# code directly to x86 ? (i mean something that run without .NET framework) ?

I know C# framework is directly linked to windows (because many class relies on some win32 functions for drawing, I/O and such) but even a compiler that provide no assemblies at all (except just console input / output ) would be a giant step forward.

only problem then would be the garbage collector but it think it could be integrated to the binaries (like the startup code that init console stuff when a creating console executable), or as a dll.

i found this some weeks ago http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bTIqgLaEc0 but it seems to have been a research project only.

C# is NOT directly linked to windows at all. In fact it's an ISO and ECMA standard!
Mono is a open source implementation which also runs on linux etc.
The only thing missing is the most popular gui framework for .net which is called WPF.

yes C# language is not linked to windows, but the assemblies (like mscorlib) are. and without any assembly you can't do much. (it is like having a C compiler without any .lib).

Outracks did a bunch of their earlier demos in Pascal.

I only had Turbo Pascal for my first 4 PC prods. At first it was fun, then it was painful, then I discovered Watcom C++ and it was fun again :p

BoyC and I did our first few releases in Pascal - he used TMT, i used FPC.

hehehe, I've also started in turbo pascal.

my gamedev entry for funtion 2010 was written in pascal
http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=55947

I started with poly pascal :-P

we did our first few demos with turbo pascal.
after that we switched to P32 for a very short period before switching to watcom :-)

this one was made in turbo pascal
http://pouet.net/prod.php?which=5062
I have also some intro projects that never left my HD

I'm sure nobody is interested, but since I've been given the possibility, I'll list my released Turbo Pascal intros back from the time when I wasn't even "on the internet".

one intro in the "intro pack, 1994"
Semiotic Semblance, Abduction 1995
Mansikka, Assembly 1995 (fsck the jury for not showing it on the screen, because it was perfectly fine and just as good as most of the ones that were actually shown)

It was quite crazy that our group used different languages, because we made everything multiple times from the ground up. MOD player/audio systems, vector graphics engines, etc. Even the inline assemblers used slightly different syntax, so we couldn't directly copy even asm snippets.

If you're thinking about starting demo coding in Pascal, and you don't have a very strong background and wide knowledge in how things are generally done, I'd suggest looking at something else. C/C++ would be the wisest option really.

well i think the word "pascal" always remind us of 90's days , but the fact is its not as simple as it seems , i am talking about delphi and why people just left it and move to c++ , i am not going to begin a debate about languages , but just curious why people didn't continue useing it (delphi )

airc: I'd say, it's because of better, more open alternatives, with richer ecosystems that are available on more platforms. Then, lack of innovation on Delphi's part and the steep improvement of managed code based runtimes, tools and performance.

And C is probably the more versatile and more ingrained low-level language. So, not much room for Pascal/Delphi anymore.

I directly made the jump from quickbasic to C in the past and never got the chance to code something with Pascal. Apart from having Pascal as a lesson in the university, but that doesn't count because I remembering nothing.

I'd wish to have a closer look at it one day though, because it's a classic, I see many tutorials of the 90s in Hornet archive are written in Pascal with a bunch of inline assembly.

airc: one of my first demoeffects where made in pascal for dos around 1998 or so (except for some simple plotting in qbasic). but dont use it anymore. now is pure asm or visual c++