VGScene is a 'Powerful vector engine like Adobe Flash or Microsoft WPF', so you get the idea.

FireMonkey is a cross-platform application framework that uses GPU-Accelerated vector graphics to render its UI, D2D/D3D on Windows and OpenGL on OSX. similiar to Silverlight OOB or Jupiter.

FireMonkey works on Windows/OSX/iOS, and may support Linux/Android in the future, more platforms than Silverlight OOB.

FireMonkey uses the Delphi (object pascal) language, which is much leaner and cleaner than C++, quite similiar to C#, but compiles to NATIVE-CODE, high-level language + native performace, combines the best of both (C++/C#) world.

And the Delphi IDE/designers is always an excellent RAD tool.

Cool stuff huh.

http://www.deltics.co.nz/blog/?p=735

http://www.andreanolanusse.com/en/a-little-bit-about-firemonkey-and-delphi-xe2/

Maybe this is what Silverlight should/could be, if there is no politics problems. Reach + Rich, right ?

Hang On!  Did you say iOS ?!

Absolutely!  This was the big surprise of the event.  Not only do we get Win32, Win64 and OSX in this release but alsoiOS!!

The iOS support isn't yet in as finished state as the OSX support, but it is more than good enough to be usable imho, and improvements to this are high on the list, being expected in the first update pack or not long there-after.

To be clear, the shortcomings are not in the compiler technology but in the integration with the debugger – at the moment you can compile, run and test/debug youriOS app as a Win32 app in the IDE, but if you want to test and debug on theiPhone/iPad simulator itself (or deploy to an actual device) then you have to compile the project inxcode on an actual Mac.  I am not entirely clear on how this works, but suffice to say there is no translation toObjective-C going on – the xcode compiler takes the ObjectPascal from Delphi, compiles it and then allows you to run and debug that ObjectPascal source in thexcode environment itself.

Also, just as with OSX, the iOS support builds on the FireMonkey framework.  This means that – with a little care – you can write aniPhone app today (100% native and thus entirely welcome in the Apple Store – no if's or but's) and when the Android compiler support is delivered simply recompile forAndroid!!

2 minutes ago,felix9 wrote

Maybe this is what Silverlight should/could be, if there is no politics problems. Reach + Rich, right ?

*snip*

Amen to that!

From the blurb, it looks like XCode supports ObjectPascal natively now... let me be skeptic for a moment, will ya?

http://www.andreanolanusse.com/en/video-delphi-xe2-and-firemonkey-app-on-windows-mac-and-ios/

I am very interested in the LiveBinding system, it looks like the data-binding system in WPF/Silverlight but better:

1, the expression engine ! very cool ! much better than IValueConverter.

2, no INotifyPropertyChange-like mechanism ???? how does this work ? magic ???

Visual Studio on a Windows 8 tablet, anyone?

1 day ago,PaoloM wrote

I'll believe it when the first app will show up in the AppStore. It's very well known that Microsoft has a iOS Silverlight port (since SL3) that has not been approved by Apple, so I'm curious on how you can write an app in something other than Objective-C and publish it (and get it approved).

From the blurb, it looks like XCode supports ObjectPascal natively now... let me be skeptic for a moment, will ya?

MonoTouch?

Delphi (object pascal) language, which is much leaner and cleaner than C++

Really?  The languages that Delphi and C++Builder use are essentially he same - so much so that it is possible to directly translate from one language to the other on a 1:1 line basis.

The languages that Delphi and C++Builder use are essentially he same

No. RAD Studio have 2 compilers: one for Delphi language (Object PAscal) and next - for C++. They have some interoperability - like using same Component Library, but can not extend classes from other language, etc..