DWScript now supports Delphi XE5
DWScript SVN version will now compile and run under XE5.
There is only one gotcha due to an XE5 regression.
Updated DWSWebServer precompiled binary
The DWS Web Server pre-compiled binary has been updated, it is now packaged in an InnoSetup installer, comes with SQLite 3.8.0.2 and other changes (see below).
The installer is still rather simple, but includes command files for service installataion/uninstallation, link to online documentations and an uninstaller. The previous Getting Started guide still applies, but is thus simplified.
DWScript WebServer in the metered cloud
I’ve now been running the DWScript Sample Web Server for 8 months in a metered host (Ikoula’s 1€/month VM), so it’s time for a more formal introduction article.
It served web pages and JSON dynamically generated by DWScript, using an SQLite database for storage. It ran on a Windows 2008 R2 Standard installation, minimized so that OS+Server stayed around 256 MB RAM.
New theme
Time for a summer facelift!
This website is getting new responsive theme which is more mobile-device friendly and will hopefully load slightly faster. Truth be told, I was also getting tired of seeing the old look here and in 618965 other blogs and websites.
DWScript Programming enters TIOBE
As a followup to the TIOBE & Pascal micro saga, thanks to David Champion, DWScript programming is now a (very) small part of the TIOBE TPCI stats, and Oxygene became its own language at position #163.
Here is an excerpt from the TIOBE update for July 2013
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DWScript news roundup July 2013
Here is a summary of DWScript changes since the last update.
Language enhancement are centered around several additions for enumeration elements and sets, as well as a standard Map() method for arrays. The JIT compiler also got more capable, and there were various improvements to the support libraries and compatibility with older (D2009) and newer (DXE3) Delphi versions.
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Pascal app hits FireFox OS
A couple days ago, a Pascal game compiled with SmartMobileStudio was accepted on the FireFox MarketPlace as a packaged app.
It had only been tested on the FireFox OS desktop simulator, how would it hold its own on a real device?
We’re not talking of flagship phones with quad-cores like a Galaxy, a Nexus 4 or an iPhone, but mainstream, single-core, sub-$100 hardware…
DWScript Just-In-Time compiler
For a couple months now, a JIT compiler has been available in the DWScript SVN for 32bits code. The JIT is meant to be transparent, that is, execution, debugging facilities and memory layouts are similar under JIT and interpretation, the only difference is the performance.
The JIT also uses a hybrid architecture, which was designed to allow developing the JIT incrementally, which directly derives from my only working on it a few hours at a time, every once in a while.
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TIOBE isn’t the only index that needs fixing
Worst thing in popularity is not being considered, or found.
Looks like TIOBE is not alone in differentiating Delphi and Pascal, other popularity indexes share the same issue:
More indexes I looked at didn’t show the “runners up”, only the top 5 or top 10, but they may as well have differentiated.
For lang-index, merging Pascal (rank 11) and Delphi (24), would be enough to reach rank 10, ahead of Ruby, just shy of Perl.
Fixed TIOBE index
For some unfathomable reason, the TIOBE index distinguishes between “Pascal” and “Object Pascal”, and the “Pascal” category is seeing growth:
So it can’t be the old classic procedural Pascal, can it? That leaves only Object Pascal dialects (FreePascal the largest, but also Oxygene and SmartPascal/DWScript). Pascal programming isn’t dead or dying.