More silly questions - savegames this time...

[Keygen]

Borland has a free C++ compiler too but without IDE

Well, RAD languages like Visual Basic and Delphi are for quick development therefore ideal for small and medium size applications.

But when you need to take full control of your program you use C++ and Assembly which both are a great pain in the ass, especially the latter.

That's why they use C++ and Assembly when creating games

[Solver]

Assembly is not suitable for writing software, Keyg.

Visual Basic is good for medium apps. Delphi sucks.

While Borland C++ can develop any app, no matter how serious .

[Keygen]

Originally posted by Solver
Assembly is not suitable for writing software, Keyg.

Visual Basic is good for medium apps. Delphi sucks.

While Borland C++ can develop any app, no matter how serious .

Well, no matter how suitable Assembly for writing is it is still used in several "heavy duty" applications. In science is used a lot and even in gaming industry some graphic rutines are coded in Assembly. For the latter I read that nVidia with Microsoft I think released a C-like language the Cg to replace Assembly on graphic coding.

[Locutus]

Whether or not a language is easy to debug is a non-issue: that's usually a property of the compiler, not of the language itself. And compilers are irrelevant: if you're not happy with the existing ones (which is not too likely), you can always write your own...

I could be wrong but I don't think Delphi is freeware by default, most packages are commercial IIRC. It's Java that's free (except if you buy it from Micro$oft but who would be that stupid? J++'s GUI s*cks and it's not compatible with anything else), and Java is quite a good language (the only real disadvantage is that it creates JARs rather than EXEs, so that complicates distribution among non-nerds). Then again, for every language there are at least some free compilers available (though of varying quality), ala GCC...

Keygen is quite correct, VB and Delphi are basically RAD tools, as is Java (only much better (more OO) and therefore suitable for larger programs as well), while C and ASM give you full control. And yes, Solver, ASM is very suitable for writing software, quite vital even in some cases, you just shouldn't code an *entire* (10,000+ lines) program in it. A lot of games and critical sections of Linux kernels are coded in ASM...

[Solver]

Locutus, what I mean by the Assembly not being able to write software is that complex programs won't get written in it. Of course, it's some routines and maybe some kernel procedures written. Oh, and yes, I do run Linux .

I thought Delphi RAD is free, but might be well mistaken, I don't have it at home, and don't plan to. I got quite enough with Visual Basic, Borland C, Java and also Linux stuff.

Oh, well, you know, Java could be the perfect language if it produced non-JARs, and if it operated faster. However, if those were .EXEs, Java wouldn't have the portability it has now.

[Keygen]

There are some very complex routines that are written in Assembly. On what language do you think is written the software that controls critical systems like nuclear power plants, nuclear weapons or sattelites and spacecrafts?

I don't think that speed is an issue anymore in Java. Modern computers can run java programs pretty fast that will not bother the user.
Unless he has a real old, rusty computer