JT @ Embarcadero

Congratulations to our 2012 survey iPad Winner!

J T — Wed, 09 May 2012 22:06:42 +0000

Thanks to everyone who participated in the 2012 RAD Studio, Delphi, and C++Builder developer surveys. Your input has been very valuable in helping us understand your usage, goals, challenges, and needs from Embarcadero. As a thank you for your participation we raffled off one new iPad and the winner is….

Dr. Luis Antonio Gama Moreno

Congratulations and we look forward to your participation in future surveys.

~/jt

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Update 4 hot-fix coming right up

J T — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 00:23:37 +0000

Last week, we released Update 4 for XE2 and I am very proud of the team for delivering 100s of fixes and optimizations (nay, over 1000) through these last 4 updates. As you have seen, we’ve put a particular focus on FireMonkey and as you might appreciate the support matrix of target hardware varies widely - especially across Windows and particularly various versions of Windows rendering libraries (DirectX, Direct2d, GDI+). As a result, we have heard of a few FireMonkey rendering issues since the release that we intend to address quickly with a hot-fix (basically a source code patch you can install on top of Update 4). In particular, some list control performance issues, fuzzy fonts due to over-aggressive anti-aliasing on some systems, and extraneous C++ package exports are slated to be addressed within these next few weeks.

~/jt

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An update on XE2 updates

J T — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:35:42 +0000

We’ve been really busy these last few months releasing updates to XE2 as we had discussed during the release. Last week we shipped Update 2 and yesterday a hot-fix for C++ developers targeting MacOS X Lion, so I thought I would take a moment to discuss our update strategy in a bit more detail.

We are aggressively trying to update at the end of each month and have so far met that schedule. These updates have included not only FireMonkey fixes but also other product fixes. Of note however, on this particular update, we allowed the development team to make interface breaking changes to FireMonkey.

We understand that breaking interfaces presents challenges for ensuring compatibility with other libraries and components but we feel this important to keep the FireMonkey framework maturing at a rapid pace. To help lessen the impact, we plan to only allow interface breaking changes during even numbered updates (i.e. updates 2,4, ..). We have also made our partners aware of this plan so they can rebuild against these updates with the potential interface changes. We highly encourage you to stay current with the updates (in particular even updates) and to work with partner you depend on to stay current.

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clang - more than an onomatopoeia

J T — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 17:12:01 +0000

An exciting new feature of C++BuilderXE2 is C++ Audits. For those of you unfamiliar with Audits, this is a static code analysis technique to look for potential issues in source code. Some of the things a good audit should do is look adherence to coding standards like naming conventions, or possible errors like divide by zero or comparing floating point values, or even potential security risks like buffer overflows. C++BuilderXE2 delivers a set of 42 audits that cover this broad range potential issues.

Embarcadero invested in new C++ technology to deliver this audit engine. In particular, we are utilizing the clang front-end . Clang is part of the LLVM project and is a highly compatible C/C++ language front-end. We added support for C++Builder specific features such as our language extensions to support the Delphi Property-Method-Event (PME) model and we have integrated this into our IDE so that you can audit your C++Builder XE2 projects.

We hope you find this feature as exciting as we do. Go forth and Audit!

~/jt

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RAD C++ FireMonkey Demo Apps

J T — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 23:25:06 +0000

Recently published to SourceForge are RAD C++ versions of several FireMonkey demo applications. These demo applications showcase Animations, FireMonkey Controls, and 3D applications. You find the demo projects in the following SVN repository.
https://radstudiodemos.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/radstudiodemos/branches/RadStudio_XE2/CPP/FireMonkey

Just use the Open from Version Control option in your RAD Studio XE2 or C++Builder XE2 IDE and point it at that repository URL and provide a local folder for checkout. You’ll get all of the folders, project files, and source code. Since RAD C++ supports both Win32 and MacOS X, you can build and deploy these applications for both operating systems.

Have fun!

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May the road(map) rise with you

J T — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 01:59:51 +0000

These last few weeks we have had Embarcaderians out on the road talking about RAD Studio XE2 and FireMonkey. The reception and excitement around FireMonkey, in particular, has been infectious. Even though there is plenty there to learn about and play with we’ve been asked regularly about our roadmap. Our official roadmap is being updated, and not ready to be published yet, but I thought I would share, at a high-level, some of the technology areas in which we are actively working.

Frequent and regular FireMonkey updates
A Next Generation Delphi Compiler with multiple hardware/OS targets
Next Generation RAD C++ Compiler with multiple hardware/OS targets
64bit RAD C++
Delphi and C++ iOS support
Expanded Mobile UI and Device support like Location, Camera, Accelerometers etc
Delphi and C++ ARM Support
Extended iOS Support
Android Support
Win8/Metro Support - Intel and ARM

As always look forward to customer feedback on our direction and priorities and plan to publish a survey soon to get your direct feedback. A full roadmap update is forthcoming.

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e := xe2

J T — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 00:35:25 +0000

By now, you have probably seen announcements for Embarcadero’s latest product release of RAD Studio XE2. XE2 includes significant updates to Delphi, C++Builder, and RadPHP. It also introduces a brand new multi-platform application framework - FireMonkey.

For VCL developers, XE2 delivers a high-quality release, that now includes a 64-bit Delphi compiler for Windows and the new Styles feature will breathe new life into your VCL forms. XE2 also delivers Live Bindings which is an extremely dynamic way to connect data to your UI - without requiring DataAware controls!

With FireMonkey, Delphi and C++ developers can now build, deploy, and debug MacOS X applications. You can also now build next generation HD and 3D user interfaces on a hardware accelerated vector graphics platform. I can’t wait to see an enterprising development team building a "Minority Report" user interface with FireMonkey!

This FireMonkey release is 1.0 and is just the beginning. Since this is a brand new platform we are planning updates early and regularly. As well, we are working on new platforms and capabilities. In fact, we are already working on an update that we plan to release soon.

Stay tuned!

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Embarking to Embarcadero

J T — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 23:49:46 +0000

Usually when you see a blog title with "embarking" in it you can safely assume someone is announcing a resignation. I am going to use it a little differently today to describe my recent decision to come back to product manage RAD tools here at Embarcadero. My embarkation is, in fact, more of a homecoming but it also presents a fresh and exciting experience ahead.

Some of you may remember me from my time at Borland. I spent much of my career working on Borland developer tools including early Delphi and the first version of C++Builder. As a product manager, I recall fondly meeting many of you at countless BorCons over the years or traveling to your offices to see the amazing things your were building with these tools. I found it very difficult to move on, back in 2004, and explore new opportunities in the Valley.

My time in the Valley, these last 7 years, has given me a much broader perspective of application development especially with regard to the rise of the smartphone app. Mobile application platforms coupled with direct distribution opportunities through app stores have introduced new opportunities for monetization but also for expansion. Your reach as a software developer has never been bigger.

This journey starts with the auspicious timing of the XE2 release. This release is packed with amazing new features to make you more productive but also to help you expand your footprint. I am particularly excited about the FireMonkey application platform and its potential to help you meet your current and future business needs with breathtaking user interfaces that help your users visualize their data in more modern and meaningful ways - on more platforms.

I am happy to be back to take this journy with you and I really looking forward to seeing how your next-generation applications are delighting even more users.

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