I came from the old delphi 5 IDE and I found the lazarus 1.0.8 /FPC 2.6.2 's compilation and debugging a lot slower than Delphi 5. Are there any settings that I can make to speed up Lazarus?

Dennis

Dennis Poon wrote

I came from the old delphi 5 IDE and I found the lazarus 1.0.8 /FPC 2.6.2 's compilation and debugging a lot slower than Delphi 5. Are there any settings that I can make to speed up Lazarus?

Switch to Linux.

Michael.

It is faster on Linux but still way slower than Delphi 5 on windows.

Dennis

I came from the old delphi 5 IDE and I found the lazarus 1.0.8 /FPC 2.6.2 's compilation and debugging a lot slower than Delphi 5. Are there any settings that I can make to speed up Lazarus?

On some systems the anti virus scanner makes a big difference.

Mattias

Yes. This is known and considered not an issue.

Michael.

Well I haven't got D5, so I cant compare, bot in general, yes it may not be that speedy.

Actually compiling should not be to big a problem. The first time may take quite some time, but then only changed file are compiled (unless you choose build, or clean...). So changing a few lines and then compile is usually quick.

As for the debugger. We currently use gdb, and that is not and will not be as fast as Delphi (and it has other issues too) (though, in terms of startup: even here, the first start (counted after you open a project) is the slowest.

Well, it is an issue, but all proposed solutions had drawbacks.

Mattias

Here is a suggestion that might help your compile times.

If you want superfast increases in compiling under linux/freepascal/lazarus,
switch your development computer to a super fast CPU and especially an SSD solid state disk drive.

Make sure you have no spinning disks/media in your computer.

I cannot tell you how much my compile times improved when I moved to a development computer
that had a solid state drive only.

Linux Fedora 14 x64 fully boots from power on in 30 seconds. Fedora 19 x64 fully boots to KDE in 30 seconds from power on.

My Apple Ipad Mini IOS 6 takes 30 seconds to power on from Boot. Android Nexus 7 tablet takes even longer.

Freepascal/Lazarus compile times are insanely short, for even huge projects.

You can rebuild the entire Lazarus IDE in about a minute, even with CLEAN ALL setting (not automatic). Taking
out unwanted packaged cuts down on this time. And my CPU is not the fastest offered by intel. But the SSD
makes all the difference.

Of course, I run Windows on the same computers on SSD drive and those Delphi 7 compile times are near instant.

Let your hardware bail you out from compile times.

Cheers,

md

Linux Fedora 14 x64 fully boots from power on in 30 seconds.

Umm, my Ubuntu 12.04 used to boot in around 8 seconds from power on. I used a 450MB/s read/write SSD drive with an i7 CPU. :)

These days boot times don't mean much to me, as my FreeBSD system [my development machine] runs 24/7.

As for Delphi vs FPC compiling speed. The newer Delphi compilers are slower than D5 & D7... Why? Because those old Delphi compilers only targeted one platform, and they could optimise the crap out of it because they hand no cross-platform worries.

FPC is written with easy maintenance and extensibility in mind. So obviously you will take a small performance hit. I think that is a reasonable trade-off.

Either way, I still don't think FPC is slow - compared to other compilers like GCC, Java etc. Also, 90% of the time FPC only needs to compile the actual units that changed - while you are developing your project. So in such cases, I think compile time is nice and fast.

Just my 2¢ worth.

Regards,
Graeme

Dennis Poon wrote

It is faster on Linux but still way slower than Delphi 5 on windows.

Allowing for multi-Arch, multi-OS, multi-GUI-infrastructure, cross-development etc does not come completely for free....

-Michael

especially an SSD solid state disk drive.

Really ?

I don't suppose all necessary files will exceed the cache of a decently equipped Linux PC.

-Michael

Multi-GUI has nothing to do with the compiler.

You can add multi-syntax modes. FPC can eat more than Delphi. :)

You can speed up compilation by cleaning up your uses clauses. Lazarus has a tool for this:
Source / Refactoring / Unused units

And you can find out what units add most to the executable. See here: http://wiki.freepascal.org/Cody#PPU_files_of_project

Mattias

Mattias Gaertner wrote

Multi-GUI has nothing to do with the compiler.

But with project compile and link time, as the LCL (including the unit interface sections) is more complex because of that.

-Michael