August 2019 Roadmap released

[Darian Miller 366]

https://community.idera.com/developer-tools/b/blog/posts/august-2019-delphi-android-beta-plans-august-roadmap-update

 

Here’s what’s planned for 10.3.3:

Platform Enhancements

• iOS 13 & macOS Catalina Support 
• RAD Server Deployment with Docker 

C++

• Expand C++ libraries support

Delphi

• Android 64-bit platform support

User Experience

• Further IDE UI/UX Improvements
• New Downloads/Licensing Portal 

Quality Focus Areas 

• App Tethering for VCL and FMX
• IDE Quality 
• C++ Toolchain performance and quality improvements

 

With the addition of 10.3.3 this fall, we’re now planning the 10.4 release for early in 2020. As outlined in our May 2019 PM roadmap commentary blog post, 10.4 is going to focus on improved code tooling, language enhancements, VCL High DPI styles, RAD Server enhancements, FireMonkey features and quality and more. 

[FredS 138]

"Kick the can" comes to mind..

 

 

[Uwe Raabe 2064]

1 hour ago, FredS said:

"Kick the can" comes to mind..

... or divide and conquer...

[Darian Miller 366]

2 hours ago, FredS said:

"Kick the can" comes to mind..

 

"Paying the piper" comes to mind.   They cut R&D too deeply and will suffer the consequences.  Sometimes you have to tell the money people NO.  You always need someone on staff that has the cojonnes or influence to do the right thing versus the least expensive thing.

[FredS 138]

38 minutes ago, Darian Miller said:

"Paying the piper" comes to mind.  

OK, but there is that 'other' stuff, you know 'GetIt' the flagship library management system down for nearly a month now.. well I don't want rub salt in it but at some point some bean counter will ask why the shop using C++Builder can't build an Android app...

 

 

[Darian Miller 366]

1 hour ago, FredS said:

OK, but there is that 'other' stuff, you know 'GetIt' the flagship library management system down for nearly a month now.. well I don't want rub salt in it but at some point some bean counter will ask why the shop using C++Builder can't build an Android app...

 

 

 

Totally agree.  It's all related to short changing the infrastructure and R&D budgets in order to 'save money' which in actually costs them a lot more than what they are 'saving' - it's just harder to calculate so the guys running their spreadsheets don't put it in.

[Kryvich 165]

403 Forbidden

( https://community.idera.com site unavailable )

Edited August 13, 2019 by Kryvich

[Markus Kinzler 174]

No Problem here. Maybe a local (proxy?) problem.

 

[Kryvich 165]

@Markus Kinzler You're right. The site is not accessible from several providers in my country, but is accessible when I use a foreign VPN. Very strange.

[David Heffernan 2353]

8 hours ago, Darian Miller said:

Sometimes you have to tell the money people NO

I expect that's exactly what happened, many times, but the money people decided otherwise. 

[Markus Kinzler 174]

We all ...

[Lars Fosdal 1793]

Infradestructure?

[RonaldK 18]

Any Info about Nullable types?

Roadmap 8/2018:

Quote

 We found out that  good quality support for nullable types (planned, but deferred) requires changes in other areas of the language. 

Roadmap 8/2019: ??

[WillH 33]

12 hours ago, Darian Miller said:

Sometimes you have to tell the money people NO.  You always need someone on staff that has the cojonnes or influence to do the right thing versus the least expensive thing.

I always felt that Nick Hodges had the cojonnes but sadly did not manage to influence the bean counters. It seems that the bean counters find it difficult to place a value on Quality, credibility and trust.

[Lars Fosdal 1793]

10.4 has "language improvements".

Some of the stuff I'd want to see here - although I expect only the two top ones to actually be candidates...

 

- parameterless record constructors

- nullable types

- proper record constants that are treated as constants

- generic support for nullable types

- generic constraint for enumerated types so that you can for a Value:T use Ord(Value), Set of T, Value in Set, etc.

- generic constraint for number, so that you can use mathematical operators on a value of T

- generic record helpers - TArray<T> / record helper for TArray<T>

- helper aggregation/overload/scoping so that one helper does not have to replace another

- lambda expressions

- ternary operator to shorten those lambdas

[John Kouraklis 94]

13 hours ago, Darian Miller said:

Sometimes you have to tell the money people NO

This is rarely a good career move

[John Kouraklis 94]

All these years, I keep reading about all the cuts in R&D and how this has affected the quality of the products etc., etc.

 

These things happen in business every day. What matters, and this is something we do not consider, is how the situation and the consequences are being managed, by whom and, given these changes, how capable these people are in reshaping the business.

 

So, my point is how has the management team (product, quality, devops,...-add managers here-) adjusted to the cuts in R&D? Have they set the right priorities FOR THE BUSINESS? Have they changed their modus operandi to adjust to the limited developers? Maybe changes to the team structure, reporting paths, decision making paths, etc.

 

Obviously, we do not know the answers to all this as they are internal matters but we can judge from the results.

 

I have the feeling (and I may be unfair to a point) that the management style is the same over the last 20 years. You can see the same consistent views spanning across decades in interviews of some people. And, you can see the same complaints from customers over the years.  

 

You can't keep doing the same thing again and again and expect different results...  

 

In short, the tip of the problem is not the R&D--it's the people (not the lack of them) and the culture of the organisation

[Darian Miller 366]

4 hours ago, John Kouraklis said:

This is rarely a good career move

Sorry, I'm a Right is Right type person.  Who wants to work for management that doesn't listen to logic?  Better for your career to leave...  You can put up with losing some battles, but to stay and watch them gut the place would be extremely difficult. 

Edited August 13, 2019 by Darian Miller

[John Kouraklis 94]

4 hours ago, Darian Miller said:

Who wants to work for management that doesn't listen to logic? 

Noone; but sadly common sense and logic are what modern managers miss big time.

 

4 hours ago, Darian Miller said:

Better for your career to leave...  You can put up with losing some battles, but to stay and watch them gut the place would be extremely difficult. 

Yes, if you are in Silicon Valley and in your twenties...

[Clément 148]

10 hours ago, Lars Fosdal said:

10.4 has "language improvements".

Some of the stuff I'd want to see here - although I expect only the two top ones to actually be candidates...

 

- parameterless record constructors

- nullable types

- proper record constants that are treated as constants

- generic support for nullable types

- generic constraint for enumerated types so that you can for a Value:T use Ord(Value), Set of T, Value in Set, etc.

- generic constraint for number, so that you can use mathematical operators on a value of T

- generic record helpers - TArray<T> / record helper for TArray<T>

- helper aggregation/overload/scoping so that one helper does not have to replace another

- lambda expressions

- ternary operator to shorten those lambdas

If those are included, 10.4 would be groundbreaking change! But to be honest lambda expressions and ternary operators will never happen. 
(Now someone from EMB. should reply to never say never 😋)

[Sherlock 663]

• Compiler optimization
• Bug fixing
• Support for current versions of the supported OSes

Finished. That is what I expect from 10.3.3. Looks like some of it is being done. So: Bravo. I really don't need new language features, but that's just old unflexible me. Then there's the trend to issue a major release early in a year and getting it fixed by the end of it, only to start the cycle again a couple of weeks later. That is tedious.

[Darian Miller 366]

18 hours ago, John Kouraklis said:

Noone; but sadly common sense and logic are what modern managers miss big time.

 

Yes, if you are in Silicon Valley and in your twenties...

 

I strongly believe that it's something for everyone to consider.  I'm 50-something in the MidWest and left my well paying job early this year for similar reasons.  (I 'fired' my employer.)  It's also related to a basic rule in life:  Never work a job that you don't like.  Think of the percentage of your life which is spent at/on work related activities, and if you aren't enjoying it and/or cannot stand the choices management is making and it's eating at your soul, then it makes no sense to stay there.  Now, you certainly will always have minor annoyances, as no job is going to be perfect.  And you may have to take a shit-job on occasion for special circumstances for a limited time, but it's a general rule that I've preached all my life (as my father before me.)  If you are in a job that you don't like, declare it as a shit-job that's allowed to continue for a limited amount of time and find an alternative.  I loved the vast majority of my previous job (and certainly disliked some parts) and I would have stayed, however the new private-equity installed board handcuffed me and my team where I simply couldn't do my job so I had to leave.  I certainly have a distaste for private-equity types like the ones that have purchased Delphi and massively cut the R&D staff.  They actually believe they can rely on cheap foreign developers for most of the work and the quality which is being produced today should provide ample proof that their plan is seriously flawed.  But, they'll keep plugging away as the numbers likely look better with the much lower costs.  And meanwhile we'll get repeated bad installs, required hotfixes after every single release (2 more today!), long-term infrastructure failures that should be a career embarrassment for everyone involved, platform support always putting out fires, and less and less core reliability.  That's certainly not a successful long-term plan - so I assume their plan is to sell after showing large increases in bottom line due to all the cuts.  

 

But back to the job issue - I think it would be better to work for yourself.  I'll never have another boss again.  I ran my own side business for 7 years and sold it after the Great Recession was over so I could concentrate on my corporate job.  Running your own business is not for everyone though as you have to be able to manage the risk.