HardQuery Report: Cooking 5.3.3

I have to confess that before I started to replace NAnt script with MSBuild script I never thought it costed me so much time. I spent a half day on learning the MSBuild syntax. After that I worked hard on the transition. Yes, it was really hard because there was so much to be learned. The problem was that I had few examples to follow, and sometimes I had to try many times. The result is so pleasing that it worths the while. After that I can clean up the code base finally. Yes, this time many temporary files are removed forever. The NAnt scripts are deleted, too. The solution tree has been revised for the fourth time which leads to a simple and maintainable structure for the first time.

After this big change, I have the RC 2 ready to be shipped. The sas thing is that I did not release RC 1. Yes, what a pity. But I believe this new version will be much better.

Luckily I learned a lot from the work. It was unexpected that I named this stage of CBC HardQuery, while in fact the journey is really hard and I study a lot of different techniques, such as Sandcastle, MSBuild, MSBee, and so on.

You can download the latest build here.

Stay tuned.

Trying Eclipse CDT

I have been reading this article from IBM community, ''Migrate Visual Studio C and C++ projects to Eclipse CDT''.

Definitely, it is a good introdution to follow. And I have tried it. However, I never wanna use Visual C++ this time. Alternatively, I use Borland C++Builder. As a result, there are a few differences.

1. For BDS 2006 users you must have the bdsproj2mak plug-in (which is a free download for all registered users at Borland.com, now codegear.com. After installing it, you can export a makefile from BDS2006. The menu item ''Export makefile...'' is under ''Project''.
2. There is no need to add INCLUDE and LIB for BCB makefiles because the paths will be set by the makefile during build process.
3. Although the Borland make utility shares the same name with the GNU one (make.exe), when ''Create Make Target'' you still need to uncheck the ''Use Default'' checkbox. In the ''Make Target'' textbox, you should enter ''-f *.mak'' instead.
4. There is no need to modified the makefile generated by BDS2006.

Thus, I tried to migrate a HelloWorld project and it worked.

However, it seems that CDT is still very naive. Compared to Borland's out-of-date product C++BuilderX, CDT is no more than a toy. It seems that MOST efforts of the Eclipse Community are focused on the Java Side and CDT is not supported as much as it needs. If you really need to develop C++ on Linux or MacOSX, why not put more pressure on CodeGear from Borland? If they make a decision of reviving C++BuilderX and moving it to Eclipse Platform, I believe it will play better than CDT in many ways.

HardQuery Report: 5.3.3 and Delay of Moving

The moving to Google Code process is now delayed. Also I have been working on Update 3 for a few days. I wish I could release it soon.

Stay tuned.

Moving CBC to Google Code

I have to confess that GForge is a good place to start hosting an open source project in China. However, its evolution is slow and sometimes insane.

When I released version 5.3.1, I found all links of my homepage were HTTPS instead of HTTP. There was no alarm sent to me, so I had to work hard to modify InDate feature. That was why there was a Hotfix provided.

Now, it seems that both HTTP and HTTPS links are available on GForge, but I have been tired of unexpected changes in the future. So moving CBC to another place is a choice.

I have already moved Alex to CodePlex.com, and see some limitation there. Any downloads from CodePlex.com should be triggered by the browser because you have to accept the license. In this way, InDate cannot be easily programmed.

Two days ago, I saw a project named emacspeak on Google Code. At that moment, I saw Google's service quite promising. As a result, now I register a project there. When I finish the moving, I will post here again.

Stay tuned.

Graduated

Finally I finished the last important step of my study here in HUST, Wuhan. And One month later I would join a Shanghai company and start my career as a Software Engineer there. Yes, life is changing now. I like changes, and I like to visit and live in another city along the Yangzi River. What a beautiful life!

Delphi 2007 Videos

It is good news that Delphi 2007 (Spacely) beta testers are now able to comment on it and provide us lots of information.

As you may know Castalia, you can see it running in Delphi 2007 here. Nice video.