At 09:47 AM 5/2/2007, you wrote: >I haven't used REALbasic seriously for new major projects for a few >years, and REALbasic has changed and improved a lot since. So >whatever opinions I may have formed of REALbasic all those years ago, >however I may feel I've been bitten in the past... that may not be >true anymore. > >Do built apps have stability issues? Or have they been ironed out? > >I'm more interested in people who have tried, or managed to make >medium/big apps, let's say more complex than my "XML Editor" app.
I am finishing a large project now. It got the job done and for that I'm happy. But it was a lot harder then it had to be. On my main computer RB crashed incessantly. That's not such a bad thing, but worse was I had no recourse. It was a intermittent thing, so RS was of no help. I had a phantom breakpoint issue. Same thing, "no one would believe me!" But it happened. So I got really stuck, but I persevered. This was Windows. I am now running another computer and the crashing and phantom breakpoints seem to go away. Why? Seems stupid. Maybe you'll get bit by this, maybe not. RB2007 is a lot better then previous versions were. I think it's workable so I think it's a good way to go. But there's a law of diminishing returns here. You get so educated just prevailing through RB's hassles, that you get so smart that you say "I'll try XCode and step up to more solid control, because I can handle it now." That's where I'm at. I am frustrated by the graphical workings in RB. Cross platform wise. Windows is much touchier then the Mac, so I had to hack a lot to get a solid looking non-flashing interface. Then those hacks interfered with the previously smooth Mac interface, so I had to work a lot on that. I can't document this, but if RB is supposed to SAVE YOU WORK by handling things underneath, I don't understand why so much work is involved in handling graphics so they don't flicker and repaint inconsistently. Another example is that you can't get a pointer from an array in RB. If you could, you could truly use Byte Arrays as buffers with the possibility of passing them externally to a plugin for speed optimization (which is what I do in VB all the time). I compare this to VisualBasic, which I use a 10 year old version of and pretty much spits out what I put in. I think everyone agrees with this - there's just a lot of top-level little things in RB that appear out of nowhere that RB has to address. They are of the significant that they may really interfere with your work. Unfortunately, software is one of those things where 99% isn't good enough. RB gets a bad rap for the 99% they get right, I pray for the day when they really do hit the 100% mark (for me) and then I'll really have a reliable tool where I don't have to ask the question of "will this do the job?" However, despite my negativity above, REALBasic is ready for primetime and can and should be used for larger projects. Just be ready to brace a possible storm or two, and make sure you have your own plugin or dylib to use for speed optimizations etc. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * | Garth Hjelte | | Customer Service Representative, President | | Chicken Systems, Inc, Rubber Chicken Software Co. | | 714 5th Street SE | | Willmar, MN 56201 USA | | | | 800-8-PRO-EPS Toll Free Order Line (US Only) | | 320-235-9798 Tech Support, Sampler Questions | | International Line | | 360-838-7689 Fax | | Product Sales: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | | Product Support: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | | Sampler Q+A: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | | Web Page: www.chickensys.com | * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * _______________________________________________ Unsubscribe or switch delivery mode: <http://www.realsoftware.com/support/listmanager/> Search the archives: <http://support.realsoftware.com/listarchives/lists.html>
