A Giant Leap for Borland C++, a Small Step Past Visual C++

Steve Apiki

When Borland C++ for Windows 4.0 makes its debut, it will be the best Windows development system on the planet--but just by a hair. BCW 4.0 inherits and improves on the best features of its predecessor, its OS/2 sibling, and arch rival Visual C++ to create an unsurpassed environment for building 16- and 32-bit Windows applications. But while the innovations are great, the end result is a tool that's only marginally better than Visual C++. Also, given the similar capabilities and great complexity of both packages, the advancements in BCW 4.0 will prove a boon primarily to those already committed to Borland C++ and OWL (Object Windows Library) development.

The most obvious enhancements to BCW 4.0 are Experts, high-level, rapid application-development utilities that are similar to the Wizards of Visual C++. The AppExpert generates a complete framework for an OWL-based application (or DLL) given only a few selections in a small set of dialog boxes. The resulting application can be incredibly sophisticated, optionally including a ready-to-run MDI (Multiple Document Iinterface), a toolbar, a status line, print previews, and built-in help.

The ClassExpert is a combination browser and editor that works with AppExpert applications, letting you quickly derive new classes from OWL's comprehensive set and easily define new member functions. The ClassExpert is fully integrated with Borland's Resource Workshop, so deriving a new class from OWL's TDialog instantly pops you into the resource editor, where you build the dialog-box template. Changes you make in the resource editor are reflected in the source files you edit within the ClassExpert.

Underlying the Expert technology is OWL 2.0, a heavily re vamped version of Borland's high-level class library. OWL 2.0 adds Doc/View support, VBX control classes, and a host of new high-level classes (e.g., print and print preview). But OWL's most significant change is that it no longer requires the Borland-specific dynamic-dispatch virtual tables that formed the heart of OWL 1.0. That makes OWL 2.0 potentially portable to any C++ compiler and opens the door for OWL on platforms beyond Windows, making it an attractive target for those building cross-platform applications. OWL's first step outside Windows will be to Novell's AppWare Foundation, a move that should be realized by this summer.

Compared to other Windows C++ implementations, BCW 4.0's compiler is the most advanced. It supports the most recent recommendations of the ANSI C++ committee. New language features in BCW 4.0 include ANSI C++ exceptions and string classes, and run-time type information support.

BCW 4.0 targets both Win16 and Win32, includes Win32s, and can run (minus the IDE) on Win dows NT. For the moment, it betters Visual C++ 1.0 with more advanced C++ features and a slightly better IDE; it also nicely fills the gap between the 16-bit and NT-hosted 32-bit versions of Visual C++. But its real challenge will come when Microsoft fills that gap on its own with Visual C++ 1.5, which will include Microsoft Foundation Classes 2.5 and its attendant high-level ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) and OLE 2.0 classes. At that point, OWL's potential as a GUI-independent platform may be the only quality that really sets BCW 4.0 apart.

Borland C++ 4.0, $499, Borland International, Inc., P.O. Box 660001, Scotts Valley, CA 95067, (408) 431-1000.

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Screen (1) The new ClassExpert is an integrated browsing and editing tool that lets you rapidly develop new classes in applications built with AppExpert. (2) Borland's improved class browser filters class members to let you view large classes more easily. (3) This editor window is part of ClassExpert, but it's inherited from the full IDE edi tor, which includes new capabilities like Brief and Epsilon emulation. (4) BCW 4.0's project manager handles shared code resources (source tools) and outclasses the project support provided by Visual C++. (5) Borland's superior Resource Workshop improves with added resource previews and thorough integration with ClassExpert.