Why is Total Commander not made in C++

[jslegers]

Hello,

I wanted to know why TC is programmed in Delphi (Lazarus) instead of C++?
Is this because of Windows 95 support?

Maybe it is time to remove support of Windows 95 till Windows XP. Maybe that is the problem why TC has problems with visual settings. Like increase font size and some windows are not shown right. I'm not a programmer but maybe the community can help Christian with converting to C++

John

[sqa_wizard]

Well, this has been discussed before.

Why do you think Windows 95 till Windows XP should be dropped?
Just because you personally have a more modern OS with high resolution multi monitor attached?

There are a lot of PCs out there which are not able to run this modern OS due to old hardware.
If you believe it or not, most people in the world do not have the money to buy a new PC every year!

I could bet that there are more PCs with Windows XP and older out there than others.
Note: TC is not a browser but a file manager ... no need to connect to the internet.

If you vote to drop support for less used OS you may vote to drop support for Windows Vista, 7 and 10

[dadreamer]

jslegers, if you are not programmer, why do you think that C++ would be better than Delphi?

[umbra]

2jslegers
Rewriting TC to C++ would be a huge amount of work. I don't think it would be worth it. Also, Delphi is one of those languages, that just refuses to die. So there is no big push to stop using it.

2sqa_wizard
I think you are exaggerating. Switching from XP doesn't mean buying a new PC every year. It's more like buying one once per decade. Some people buy cars more often than that... But I agree, that there is still a significant amount of people using it.

However, if Ghisler decided to drop support for anything older than NT 5.1, I'd be the first to applaud. Support for Win9x and early NT is keeping TC back. Especially in the UI area.

I often read on this forum, that TC must be usable on those old systems with VGA resolution and restricted resources. But I'm wondering, how many of the new features introduced in the recent versions of TC are actually used there. Would anyone really miss them?

I'd vote for supporting only (relatively) recent versions of Windows in a future TC and making it work and look better on them. Of course, there could be some bugfix releases for the abandoned systems. But I don't see a reason why TC should still focus on them.

[jslegers]

@dadreamer. I think Delphi is an old language. C++ is more modern and has I think more support.

@umbra. Totally agree. I think that is also the issue with the UI because of the support of older OS versions.

[Hacker]

jslegers,

I think Delphi is an old language. C++ is more modern

C++ - 1983.
Delphi - 1995.

Roman

[dadreamer]

jslegers

I think Delphi is an old language. C++ is more modern and has I think more support.

That's not true actually. To clarify this you may take a look at Delphi versions history:

...

Embarcadero Delphi XE8

On April 7, 2015 Embarcadero released RAD Studio XE8, which included Delphi XE8 and C++Builder.[35]

Embarcadero Delphi 10 Seattle

On August 31, 2015 Embarcadero released RAD Studio 10 Seattle, which included Delphi and C++Builder.

Embarcadero Delphi 10.1 Berlin

On April 20, 2016 Embarcadero released RAD Studio 10.1 Berlin, which included Delphi and C++Builder, both generating native code for the platforms Windows 32 and 64-bit, OSX, iOS and Android (ARM, MIPS and X86 processors).

Also read this topic: Famous software made with Delphi

[jslegers]

jslegers,

I think Delphi is an old language. C++ is more modern

C++ - 1983.
Delphi - 1995.

Roman

Thought Delphi was older sorry.

[Sob]

Just adapting the source from Delphi to Lazarus/FreePascal (to get 64-bit version, because Delphi at that time didn't yet have 64-bit compiler) took an awful lot of time. And it was still Pascal, so not everything had to be rewritten. Rewriting everything to C++ would be much worse. That idea is not new, I remember it surfacing when there was a talk about future (at the time) 64-bit version. I also found author's reply.

[Balderstrom]

jslegers

I think Delphi is an old language. C++ is more modern and has I think more support.

That's not true actually. To clarify this you may take a look at Delphi versions history:

...

Embarcadero Delphi XE8

On April 7, 2015 Embarcadero released RAD Studio XE8, which included Delphi XE8 and C++Builder.[35]

Embarcadero Delphi 10 Seattle

On August 31, 2015 Embarcadero released RAD Studio 10 Seattle, which included Delphi and C++Builder.

Embarcadero Delphi 10.1 Berlin

On April 20, 2016 Embarcadero released RAD Studio 10.1 Berlin, which included Delphi and C++Builder, both generating native code for the platforms Windows 32 and 64-bit, OSX, iOS and Android (ARM, MIPS and X86 processors).

Also read this topic: Famous software made with Delphi

Except TC 32bit is compiled with Delphi 2; TC x64 is compiled with Lazarus.
TC hasn't benefited from any Delphi core improvements in 20 years.

Delphi Release Dates - Delphi Programming - Wikia

10th February 1996 Borland Delphi 2 2.0 12 Polaris

See this thread: What about porting 32-bit TC to Lazarus?

If you want a C++ File Manager, there are more than a few out there.

[siealex]

Except TC 32bit is compiled with Delphi 2

Wow! I don't remember Delphi 2 at all, the first version on my PC was Delphi 4...