den4b Forum

mythofechelon

Member

Registered: 2013-04-16

Posts: 6

Windows Development

Hey, Denis.

Currently, I develop my utilities with batch files (I know, I know) and I've been wanting to get into proper Windows development for a long time, as I think have some pretty good ideas, but I refuse to develop an app unless it is:
1. As self-contained and, therefore, portable as possible
2. Has the bare minimum dependencies (no .NET frameworks, C++ redistributables, etc required)
I haven't really been able to find anything that meets these requirements except your and Nirsoft's software.

So, I ask: what do you use to develop your (great) applications? More specifically, what programming language, IDE, and installers do you use?

It'd be great if I could get some advice from a pro.

Thanks.

Ben.

den4b

Administrator

From: den4b.com

Registered: 2006-04-06

Posts: 3,440

Re: Windows Development

Hi Ben,

For native Windows development I use mostly Delphi and Lazarus (Free Pascal). The programming language is Pascal. These are the tools that let you build native applications with no dependencies to additional frameworks or libraries.

Delphi is a commercial IDE and is quite expensive. Delphi is great for native Windows development. The latest version can also compile for Mac OS X, while older versions can build even for ancient versions of Windows 95/98/Me.

Lazarus on the other hand is open source and completely cross-platform (Windows, Linux, Mac OS, various architectures, etc). Lazarus was designed to be very similar to Delphi and it can even import an entire Delphi project and do 80-100% of the work of converting it to be cross-platform, depending on how much platform dependant code you used.

For the installer I use Inno Setup, which is an open source product build with Delphi. It is the best installer package in my opinion. Clean, easy to use and highly customizable.

I hope this will get you started

Denis

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mythofechelon

Member

Registered: 2013-04-16

Posts: 6

Re: Windows Development

Hey, Denis.

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

Looks like I'll start looking to Pascal, Lazarus, and Inno Setup then. Sounds promising.

Ben.