Synopse Open Source - Tag - TotalCommandermORMot MVC / SOA / ORM and friends2024-02-02T17:08:25+00:00urn:md5:cc547126eb580a9adbec2349d7c65274DotclearTotal Commander 64 bit is using... Lazarus and FPCurn:md5:553ca887ab1e177a8321cb525ecc49fc2011-12-04T09:46:00+01:002011-12-05T10:13:01+01:00AB4327-GANDIPascal Programming64bitblogDelphiFreePascalTotalCommanderzip<p>I'm a long-time registered user of <a href="http://ghisler.com">Total
Commander</a>.</p>
<p>This tool is my daily file manager. I never use <em>Windows Explorer</em>,
since <em>Total Commander</em> is just faster, more easy to use (especially
with the keyboard), has a lot of plug-ins. I even created my own plug-ins to
access some custom file formats, and navigate into them just like with any
folder. And it includes a lot of well written commands for FTP access or file
comparison, which made other tools (like <em>WinMerge</em>) unnecessary.</p>
<p>There is a new <em>beta</em> version of Total Commander available,
which targets Windows 64 bit. I just thought: 'Whoo, this is a real-world
Delphi XE2 64 application'. I downloaded and tried it. Worked as expected, and
integrates seamlessly with Windows Seven (for the shell extensions).
Then I took a look at the executable... and discovered it was not compiled with
Delphi XE2... but with FPC !</p> <p>The 32 bit version appears to be compiled with Delphi 2 - yes, this is an
OLD version (the first 32 bit version) - but this is <a href="http://www.ghisler.ch/board/viewtopic.php?t=23548">what the TC author himself
states</a>.</p>
<p>As a result, the 32 bit version executable is small and efficient. And,
honestly, you can write a nice Unicode software without using generics and all
the new Delphi features...</p>
<p>When looking at the 64 bit supplied version, it was obvious to me that even
if the tool was behaving the same as the 32 bit version (fast and native user
interface), the gears were not the same. It seems to have been compiled with
the great Open Source <a href="http://freepascal.org/">Free Pascal
Compiler</a> - using not the VCL, but the cross-platform <a href="http://www.lazarus.freepascal.org/">Lazarus project</a>. I do not know if the
LCL components where used, or some <em>Total Commander</em>-custom components
(which I think is more than probable, knowing Ghisler's skill and hand-tuning
abilities).</p>
<p>It is even clear if you look <a href="http://www.ghisler.com/history.txt">at
the application history</a>:</p>
<pre>
14.07.10 Added: Start work on conversion to Lazarus/Free Pascal in preparation for 64-bit version
</pre>
As I wrote <a href="https://blog.synopse.info?post/post/2010/08/14/FPC-and-Delphi%3A-toward-a-%22fratricidal-war%22">some time
ago in this blog</a>, FPC team published a 64 bit compiler using the
Delphi/object pascal language in 2006. Whereas the "official" Win64 support
just appeared this year, with Delphi XE2.
<p>Christian Ghisler is working with FPC for a lot of time for the PocketPC
(... and now <a href="http://ghisler.com/android.htm">Android</a>!) freeware
versions of his tool.</p>
<p>I'm very happy to see such a world-wide spread application using FPC and
Lazarus tandem. There are open source alternatives to FireMonkey and Delphi
XE2. Not a feature-like, but with another architecture, another rendering,
another coding spirit, another cross-platform abilities, another
mind openness... Even Delphi is using FPC as compiler <a href="https://blog.synopse.info?post/post/2011/08/08/Our-mORMot-won-t-hibernate-this-winter%2C-thanks-to-FireMonkey">
when targeting iOS</a>.</p>
<p>Feedback and comments are <a href="http://synopse.info/forum/viewtopic.php?id=535">welcome on our forum</a>!</p>