There are many kinds of programmers. There are those for whom, vi, gcc, and make are all the programming tools that they'll ever need. And, that's fine, for them. Then, there are programmers who like rapid application development (RAD) packages with GUIs and integrated debuggers. If you're that kind of developer, then Kylix 3 (http://www.borland.com/kylix/index.html) is your kind of development environment.

If EMACS is your idea of a programming environment, Kylix will come as a shock. Many developers, weaned on Borland programming tools since Kylix's ancient ancestor 1983's Turbo Pascal on CP/M, will find that Kylix brings all the usual visual and rapid application development goodies they expect. Developers who cut their teeth on Windows programming environments like Microsoft's Visual Studio and has been hesitant about jumping into Linux because of its lack of similar tools no longer have any excuses.

While Kylix on Linux has been around since March 2001, it hasn't been the most popular development environment simply because it only supported the Delphi language. While Delphi, essentially Pascal revamped and updated with objects, is very popular with Windows programmers, it's never been that popular on Linux. This is simply because Linux, and the Unix family before it, has always been the haven of C and C++ programmers.

Now, however, Kylix answers the needs of most Linux programmers by fully supporting C++ with the same development environment. The result is a RAD that should quickly become Linux's most popular integrated development environment (IDE).

Strong words, but it's a strong RAD. While those who are wedded to the command line won't be persuaded, most other developers will see Kylix's advantages. You don't have to believe me, or even pay out money, to see if you agree. Borland has made one version of the program, Open Kylix, available for free downloads
(http://www.borland.com/products/downloads/download_kylix.html).

The most important difference between Open Kylix and the Professional Edition, which lists for $249, is that with Open Kylix you must link to GPL libraries, thus producing GPL only code. The other important differences are that Open has fewer debugging options and database integration options than Professional. If you like what you see, and you plan on doing serious database, XML, or Web Services work, you should skip over Professional and go directly to Kylix 3 Enterprise Edition with a price-tag of $1,999. Still, Open will give you more than enough to know if Kylix is for you.

Next: Looking at Kylix 3 Enterprise Edition »