Re: Pascal porting?
Re: Pascal porting?
- Subject: Re: Pascal porting?
- From: Oleg Svirgstin <email@hidden>
- Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 17:31:09 +0300
Hi Mark,
It is rather converting (recreating) a Classic Toolbox application into a
Cocoa application (not Pascal porting)...
I am not sure there is an industrially strong Pascal for Mac OS X. Even if
there was, how to use it with "Carbon" or Core Foundations? Pascal->Pascal
is certainly not a way to go... If there was a good Object Pascal in XCode,
and if it could be accessed from Obj-C sources, then we could Pascal->Pascal
at least the model layer.
It is absolutely feasible to do that porting in Cocoa if certain
pre-conditions are met. Pre-condition number one: the developer must be
experienced in Cocoa. Applying experiences (mindlessly) from the other
frameworks (Pascal, C++ or Java) in Cocoa is often misleading and thus
dangerous.
This is why getting into Cocoa should consist of 3 phases (IMHO):
1. temporarily forget all experiences gathered in the other worlds
2. learn and try Cocoa as an open minded novice until it is understood and
fluent
3. restore experiences from (1) and add them to the magic of (2) where and
how appropriate.
It is still rarely said, but it is Cocoa where so many different worlds join
each other, so it is worth any efforts. Alas, efforts it demands are serious
and they may take too long.
Did you think about outsourcing the task? 2 months look like a very short
term!
Rethinking is actually development of a completely new application. It does
not matter whether specifications come from a working application on a
different platform or from a good and qualified paper draft.
It took me 2 or 3 months in my first Cocoa application to find I was doing
everything absolutely wrong. There were much shorter, efficient, elegant or
just WORKING ways. Some of discoveries turned out to be illusions. Some
worked. Experience is about the day when the dust and splashes relax.
It would not be feasible to "single port" a Pascal Toolbox source into
Carbon/C++ or Cocoa/Obj-C anyway.
Best regards and Merry Christmas
Oleg
PS Is it a "plain" Toolbox Pascal application, or was it developed with a
class library? Does it use features of toolbox that have been replaced by
DIFFERENT frameworks in OSX? Does it depend on complicated custom controls?
How large is the source code itself, what significant resources does it
deploy?
>
I'm looking into porting an old (code dates from 94-96) Pascal program
>
to (mach-o). Its not that big (<100K executable, source + resource
>
folder is about 1.3 MB). I'm investigating to see if its feasible.
>
>
Data that I do know:
>
Completion goal: 2 calendar months
>
Doesn't have to run on Windows
>
It probably has a life span of less than a year (there's a
>
replacement on the horizon, but that's way behind schedule, and the
>
company wants something that it can sell now, as its Classic sales are
>
dying quickly)
>
>
>
It seems that Metroworks no longer supports Pascal (at least in the 8 &
>
9 series); however, I've found a gnu variety.
>
>
The program seems well written; however, I know that there will be a
>
fair amount of conversion from the traps and window calls to Carbonize
>
it. I'm not sure how good the Pascal compiler is (how buggy), nor am I
>
sure exactly how much Pascal->Pascal conversion there needs to be, so
>
I'm really not sure if doing a double port to C++/Carbon might be just
>
as easy as trying to keep it in Pascal. Additionally, since this
>
program doesn't have to run on Windows, and probably needs to have its
>
UI redone (at least to Aquify it), I was thinking that instead of a
>
double port to C++/Carbon, it might be a good test for a double port
>
into Cocoa. I am just starting to learn Cocoa, but if it truly is easy
>
to get a full fledged program (the infrastructure) up and running
>
quickly, this might be a good test case for switching to Cocoa.
>
>
Has anyone had any experience in porting Pascal to Cocoa/OS X to offer
>
any thoughts on strategies?
>
>
Thanks,
>
>
Marc
>
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