Embarcadero release free C++ and Delphi IDE for students, home users and open source.

Embarcadero have anounced new editions of their C++ IDE and Delphi IDE. Known as “Community Edition” these are free licensed versions of the “Professional edition” for students, home users, open source developers and anyone who programs but does not generate an income. There are accurate details of the restrictions on use at the links below.

 This is a very positive move by Embarcadero. It makes it easy for anyone to experience first hand the quality of their products. It can’t help but increase the popularity of the Embarcadero C++ and Delphi programming environments.

 Here are the links, if you are new to Embarcadero products go get it now!

 C++ Community Edition

Delphi (object pascal) Community Edition

Error codes from functions

Many functions in third party libraries, APIs or in your own code often return some kind of error indication as to the success or otherwise of the function call.

Always check errors when a library (or other) function returns an error (even if you are going to ignore it !).

Why do we make this statement? For all the following reasons.

a) It documents in your source code the fact that the function returns an error (you may decide to check this later).

b) It makes it easier to check the error status when you are debugging your code as/when it doesn’t work.

c) It makes it easier to add error checking at a later date.

d) It encourages you to think “should I be really ignoring the error code returned by a function” at the time that you write your code. In most cases the answer to this question is probably “no”. Checking errors almost always adds little to code complexity and often saves time in the long run.