Kylix 3 - coming to a development machine near you

 

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By Alun Williams

Posted on 24 Jul 2002 at 12:49

C++ support is combined with Delphi in the latest release of Borland's Kylix development system.

As well as its Object Pascal-based Delphi language, Kylix now supports the ANSI/ISO C++ language for programmers targeting the Linux platform. It's a Rapid Application Development (RAD) environment that employs drag and drop techniques to quickly build an application.

Kylix is an enterprise-scale system that supports the building of database, GUI, and
Web services applications for Linux. Compatibility with Borland's C++Builder 6 and Delphi 6 - which supports Windows development - provides a Borland-specific way of achieving cross-platform portability for your apps.

For Web applications, there is support for using XML, XSL, SOAP and WSDL, among other standards. On the database side of things, the dbExpress program provides database drivers for the main databases, such as InterBase, MySQL, Red Hat Database and PostgreSQL. For general application development there is the support for Borland CLX (Component Library for Cross-platform), which lets you reuse existing software components to build new systems.

'C++ is the development language of choice for most Linux developers,' states the MD of Borland UK, Chris Purrington, 'but until now building high-performance applications - especially for GUI clients, databases, and the Web - required extensive development time. With component-based development for Linux in Kylix 3, C++ developers can speed their time-to-market.'

You can download a FAQ on Kylix 3 from the Borland Web site.

Kylix comes in three editions - Enterprise, Professional, and Open - and the pricing and availability is as follows. Kylix 3 Enterprise and Professional are available online for £1,339 and £169 respectively (as well as from resellers). Kylix 3 Open Edition for open source developers will be available for free download from www.borland.com/products/downloads/.

The Kylix development environment was first launched by Borland back in February 2001, when it was claimed to be the 'first native Rapid Application Development environment for Linux'.