Status of VB6/ Best Desktop Application Language with Native Compilation

Question

I was looking for a Desktop Application Programming Language with one of the biggest constraint: - “I need to output as native executable”.

I explored multiple options:

1. Java is not a very good option for desktop programming, but still you can use it. But Java to Exe is a problem. Only GCJ and Excelsior-Jet provides this.
2. .Net platform does not support native compilation. Only very few expensive tools are available which can do the job.
3. Python is not an option for native compilation. Right?
4. VB6 is the option I am left with.

From the above list, if I am correct, VB6 is the only and probably the best option I have. But VB6 itself has issues like:

• It is no more under development since
• There are questions on support of VB6 IDE with Vista

Thus my questions are:

1. From the list of programming language options, do you want to add any more?
2. If VB6 is good/best option, looking at its development status, would you suggest using VB6 in this era?

Answer 1

Out of curiosity, what are the driving factors behind the "native-binary-only" constraint?

As others have said, it's essentially impossible to prevent reverse engineering. (I realize the answer I linked to is in the context of .Net, but it applies to all programs.)

Answer 2

Delphi (and its underlying Pascal language) is still alive and well, with the 2010 edition recently released; if you have funding (a minimum of $899 for the cheapest edition, I believe). it may be worth your time to download a try a free-for-30-days (or something like that) version.

Answer 3

You added a comment saying it is because .NET and java can be decompiled that you don't want to use them. You could use an obfuscator which makes the output code harder to read.

Answer 4

Visual C++ is an option, though unfortunately the free version is a bit crippled from the point of view of building MFC-based applications.

You can also choose to use a different GUI framework than MFC, such as wxWidgets or Qt. With these frameworks a GCC compiler (such as MinGW) can be used. There are several free IDEs that are supposed to work with one or both of those frames works including Qt Creator or Code::Blocks.

I've heard good things about Delphi, but don't know anything else about it.

Answer 5

I was involved in a hunt for a similar language/platform for a client to replace their VB6 application. Although they eventually decided to webify everything and rewrite it all in Flex, they were briefly looking at RealBasic. VB6-esque syntax and it compiles to native binaries.

I can't speak for what it's like for day to day use; the trial looked ok. A bit of the RAD oh-that-didn't-take-long workflow that VB6 had and very little else has got anywhere near. Not unreasonably expensive for the Personal Edition.

Answer 6

Check out 'Power Basic' - It compiles 'true' small native EXEs and provides a fast VB like basic environment, and doesn't require a run-time environment. This makes it much harder to disassemble. It isn't VB, but its affordable and powerful.

Answer 7

VB is an interpreted language not native although I guess there are native compilers. Also it's runtime support is not guaranteed past windows 7. The IDE and runtime have a few issues in windows vista and 7 mainly related to UAC and network drives.

I would suggest delphi or some c variant if it must be native.