November 25, 2025
Glow-up or meltdown?
Rethinking C++: Architecture, Concepts, and Responsibility
C++Builder 13’s big brain upgrade sparks nostalgia wars
TLDR: C++Builder 13 adds modern C++ features and smoothly migrated a huge app, prompting cheers and side‑eye. The community split between nostalgic fans and critics arguing for other languages, while a fiery debate raged over slow compile times versus smarter, early error checking—why it matters for future-proof software.
C++Builder 13 rolled out with support for C++20/23, and the author says concept-based “contracts” checked at compile time are the future. He migrated a massive 1M‑line project (the “PE Portal”) across 10 apps and 30 libraries—surprisingly smoothly—and he’s preaching that modern C++ must be re‑understood from the ground up.
The comments lit up. Nostalgia squad cheered: pjmlp declared C++Builder the last true “visual” IDE (a development tool for building apps), dunking on Microsoft’s Visual C++ for not being so visual. Meanwhile, fsloth threw hands: the author just wants nicer languages like F# or OCaml, and misses that C++’s superpower is raw performance and industry longevity.
Then came the compile‑time war. yosefk quoted the piece’s hot claim: “You cannot compare C++ compile times with other languages.” Some clapped—“the compiler’s doing elite brain work!” Others rolled their eyes with memes: “My coffee compiles faster than your code.” The thread turned into a runtime‑vs‑compile‑time cage match: fewer runtime costs vs devs watching progress bars.
Even non‑nerds could vibe: concepts are like clear rules the compiler checks early, saving headaches later. Fans called C++Builder 13 a comeback; skeptics called it a midlife crisis. The result? A spicy, oddly hopeful moment where old‑school UI nostalgia meets new‑school C++ brain gymnastics.
Key Points
- •C++Builder 13 was evaluated for its C++20/C++23 support through extensive testing and a full product migration.
- •The author promotes concept-based development in modern C++, using compile-time contracts to define framework requirements.
- •An example concept for table-like UI components is provided, applicable across VCL, FMX, and Qt widgets.
- •A large codebase (“PE Portal”: 10 apps, some COM servers; 30 DLLs; ~1M LOC; 2312 files) was migrated from C++Builder 10.2.3/DevExpress 23.2.7 to C++Builder 13/DevExpress 25.1.5.
- •The migration occurred from late August to mid-October 2025 following the September release, used to probe capabilities and limits after issues with versions 11 and 12.