Open Letter to the Borland® C Developer Community - by J.P. LeBlanc Abstract: J.P. LeBlanc, newly appointed vice president and general manager of the Borland® C and Mobile solutions group, writes an open letter to members of the Borland C developer community on the next generation Borland C product line. Open Letter to the Borland C Developer Community In our 20 years of history as a development solutions company in the software industry, Borland has played a key role in the evolution and innovation for the C and C developer community. With the support of loyal customers like you, Borland has established itself as a leader in developing and delivering C and C solutions for both the Windows® and Linux® platforms. As a further sign of our commitment to this marketplace, Borland formed in April of this year, a new C and Mobile solutions group targeted at serving both C and C developers. This open letter is written to inform you, the Borland C developer, of our next generation C product currently being developed in the Borland labs. Current Trends in the C Market Sometimes discounted as a mature legacy market, the C tools market is still an active market that we believe will hold steady for the next several years. Borland is well established in this market based on our large existing C developer community, our history in this market and our reputation for delivering innovative solutions for the C developer: 1. Standards. After a temporary moratorium on changes to the ANSI/ISO C 1998 standard, the standards committee is accepting proposals for new directions to the standard. Today, many compilers are still aiming to achieve compliancy with the current standard. We believe that compliance to the ANSI/ISO standards is key to delivering on the promise of C portability. 2. Multiple platform support. A large number of todays C applications are deployed on or target multiple platforms. As a result, writing standard ANSI/ISO C compliant code once and recompiling for other targets is highly desirable. Unfortunately, this is not always possible because of the disparity and incompatibilities between the numerous C tool chains. These differences are even more prevalent amongst those applications targeting UNIX® platforms requiring migration to Intel® Linux platforms. 3. Supporting and maintaining existing C code. Analysts predict that professional C and C developers will remain the largest community of developers through 2005*. The C and C languages have been used for several decades and there are millions of lines of code that need to be maintained. In some cases, this code is very fragile -- original developers are no longer available and weak documentation has made extension/modifications nearly impossible. C developers need the latest in application lifecycle tools to manage this effectively. 4. Performance Computing. C remains the choice for highly scalable and high performance applications. Runtime performance, size of code and hardware accessibility still make C the language of choice for building the type of applications frequently found in the finance, manufacturing, telecom, defense and automotive industries. Many of these developers are using non-integrated tools and are eager for solutions that allow them to build better software faster. 5. Mobile and embedded device computing. As many other languages support the multitude of new mobile, handheld and embedded devices, there has been a strong commitment for C as the language of choice for these platforms. Because size and speed are essential to building these applications, the majority of mobile developers are building applications in C . Today, many of these developers are using low level tools and libraries to deliver small and fast applications. The complexity, breadth and depth of these development environments are often a barrier to entry for the large number of application developers wanting to focus on the business process to be implemented instead of the technology required to build these applications. New Product Vision The upcoming version of Borland® C Builder® will be our response to many long hours of customer feedback, review of the current state of the existing technology and sharp focus on developing a strong value proposition aligned with the current industry trends. The resulting product vision will have five main lines of thrust: 1. Build a development tool for the entire C market. With this product, we focused on delivering the right IDE solution for the majority of C developers. The project manager, code editor, compilers and debuggers are all tightly integrated and designed to cater to the needs of C development. 2. Lead in C standards compliancy As a C solutions provider, our commitment is to build a new line of C compilers that offer developers the latest and complete ANSI/ISO C and C99 standards compliancy on both Intel and ARM platforms. The new compiler architecture will be designed to deliver both a new compiler front end and back end technology. This new back end technology has been designed to provide the ability to target new hardware platforms, deliver new optimization capabilities, and plug into a common compiler front end, promoting code portability across platforms. 3. Provide a true C RAD visual development environment In keeping with our commitment to enable developers to build better software faster, this product will be designed with a new visual development environment and support for multiple platform frameworks for all C developers. As currently planned, Borland will deliver a new, pure C framework, not requiring the use of any compiler extensions, and allowing developers to easily build and deliver cross-platform applications. 4. Improved maintenance As an essential and integral part of the product strategy, this new product will be regularly maintained. As currently planned, built into the product will be support for submitting deficiency reports and tracking any patches and updates through an enhanced Borland Quality Central interface. More importantly, Borland is committed to a regular maintenance schedule and a commitment to conformance with evolving ANSI standards with scheduled product updates. 5. Extend product with support for Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) tools In order to truly deliver the complete solution for the C developer, it is anticipated that the new version of C Builder will integrate with the latest and greatest Borland ALM technologies. In addition, Borland intends to partner with key 3rd party software providers to include the latest in software development innovation for the C developer, thus delivering on our commitment to building better software by integrating and supporting best in class solutions. Call to Action After investing many person-years of effort and over two years of scheduled development time, Borland is preparing the release of its next C offering. What can you do to influence and support this new product initiative? As a minimum, we would like to you to participate in our on-going field test of the product. Developers may register by sending email to cppbeta@borland.com (Subject: Borland C Beta Invitation Request) and requesting an invitation. As a C developer, we hope that this new product offering will align with your current and future C requirements and that we will have the pleasure of serving you as a Borland C developer in the future. Borland is committed to giving developers the freedom of choice and enabling the development of better software faster. * The 2001 IDC Developer Model Legal Disclaimer: The products are still being tested and developed by Borland, and may be changed substantially before commercial release. Borland reserves the right at any time not to release or to discontinue release of any product (including a commercial release) and to alter prices, features, specifications, capabilities, functions, licensing terms, release dates, general availability or other characteristics of any future releases of the product. In no event shall Borland be obligated to provide you a copy of the commercial release version of any product in connection with your participation in the beta program.

已经申请到Beta，下载中。。

轉貼一篇翻譯成中文的，原貼出處： http://www.csdn.net/news/newstopic/12/12533.shtml    摘要: 新任命的副總裁和Borland? C++及移動解決方案部門總經理J.P. LeBlanc為關於下一代Borland C++產品線的Borland C++開發者社區撰寫了一封公開信。    給Borland® C++開發者社區的公開信     在我們作為軟體行業的一家開發解決方案公司的20年歷史中，Borland在C及C++開發者社區的發展和革新中扮演了重要的角色。在像大家這樣的忠實客戶的支持下，Borland在為Windows?和Linux?兩個平臺開發和提供C及C++解決方案方面已經建立了自己的領導地位。    作為我們對這個市場承諾的進一步表現，Borland在今年4月成立了一個目標在於服務C及C++開發者的新的C++及移動解決方案部門。這封公開信就是為了告知大家--Borland C++開發者--目前正在Borland實驗室開發的我們的下一代C++產品。    C++市場的當前趨勢        雖然有時被當作成熟的傳統市場而不受重視，C++工具市場仍然是一個我們相信將在今後幾年保持穩定的活躍市場。借助于我們現有的巨大的C++開發者社區、我們的市場歷史以及我們為C++開發者提供革新解決方案的聲譽，Borland在這個市場中建立了良好的地位。    1. 標準 在有關ANSI/ISO C++ 1998標準變更的短暫停頓之後，標準委員會接受了新的標準方向的建議。目前，許多編譯器仍然以達到與當前標準相一致為目標。我們認為與ANSI/ISO標準相一致對於兌現C++可攜性的承諾非常重要。    2. 多平臺支援 大量當今的C++應用都是在多平臺上開發的或者以多平臺為目標的。因此，編寫一次符合ANSI/ISO C++標準的代碼並為其他目的重新編譯是非常理想的。不幸的是，由於各種C++工具系列之間的差異性和不相容性，這總是不可能的。這種差異對於那些面向UNIX?平臺而又要求移植到Intel? Linux平臺的應用來說還要更加普遍。    3. 支持並維護現有C++代碼 分析人士預言，專業C及C++開發者將保持最大的開發者社區指導2005年以後。C及C++語言已經使用了數十年，並且積累了需要維護的數以百萬行計的代碼。在某些情況下，這些代碼非常脆弱--原始開發者已經不知取向，而且不充分的文檔使得擴展或修改幾乎不可能。C++開發者需要最新的應用生命週期工具來高效地處理這種情況。    4. 性能計算處理 C++為高度可擴展和高性能的應用保留了一個選擇。運行時間性能、代碼量大小以及硬體可訪問性使得C++仍然是構建常用於財務、製造、電信、國防和汽車行業各種類型應用的語言選擇。許多這樣的開發者正在使用非集成的工具，並且熱望能夠使他們更快地編制更好的軟體的解決方案。    5. 移動及嵌入式設備計算處理 與其他許多語言支援大量新的移動、手持和嵌入式設備一樣，C++對於作為這些平臺的語言選擇也做出了強烈的承諾。因為代碼大小和運行速度對於構建這些應用非常重要，多數移動開發者都採用C++構建應用。目前，許多這樣的開發者使用低級工具和庫賴提供小而快的應用。這些開發環境的複雜性、廣度和深度通常成為大量希望關注業務流程實現而不是構建這些應用所需的技術的開發者進入的障礙。    新產品遠景        即將發佈的Borland? C++Builder?版本將是我們對許多長期的用戶反饋、現有技術的當前狀態回顧以及高度集中於發展與當前行業趨勢一致的高價值建議的回應。由此而來的產品遠景將具有五個主要的推進動力：    1. 為整個C++市場構建一個開發工具 利用這個產品，我們集中於為大多數C++開發者提供完全的IDE解決方案。專案管理器、代碼編輯器、編譯器和調試器都緊密地集成並設計為滿足C++開發的需求。    2. 引領C++標準一致性 作為C++解決方案提供者，我們的承諾是構建一個新的C++編譯器系列來為開發者在Intel 和ARM兩個平臺上提供最新的並且是完全的ANSI/ISO C++和C99標準一致性。新的編譯器架構將設計為提供新的編譯器前端和後端技術。這種新的後端技術設計為能夠面向新的硬體平臺，提供新的優化能力，並且嵌入到一個通用的編譯器前端，從而促進平臺之間的代碼可攜性。    3. 提供真正的C RAD可視開發環境 為了遵守我們使開發者更快地開發更好的軟體的承諾，這個產品將為所有C 開發者設計一個新的可視開發環境以及多平臺框架支持。按照目前的計畫，Borland將提供一個新的純粹的C 框架，從而不需要使用任何編譯器擴展，並且允許開發者方便地構建和提供跨平臺應用。 4. 改良的維護 作為產品戰略的一個重要的整體部分，這個新產品將定期進行維護。按照目前的計畫，產品將通過一個增強的Borland質量中心介面內置對提交缺陷報告和跟蹤補丁及更新的支持。更重要的是，Borland提交了定期維護時間表，並且承諾通過預定的產品更新來保持與發展的ANSI標準的一致性。 5. 擴展產品來支援應用生命週期管理(ALM)工具 為了真正地為C 開發者提供完整的解決方案，預期新版本的C Builder將集成最新最棒的Borland ALM技術。另外，Borland還打算與主要的第三方軟體提供者合作來為C 開發者提供軟體發展創新中的最新技術，從而實現我們對通過集成和支援最佳技術而構建更好的軟體的承諾。 - J.P. LeBlanc 注：寶蘭的一位副總裁"David I" (David Intersimone)說：“BCB7 相容 Delphi VCL組件”