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I may sound a noob here, but curiousity got the best of me.
I am trying to learn C++ programming, and while browsing, one of the site I visited mention that Borland has two products with similar names. Namely Borland C++ and Borland C++ Builder.
I did try to google about the difference but I got no valid answer(s).
In rough terms, the difference between Borland C++ and C++ Builder is age and target platform. Both are a compiler with an IDE.
You'll also see a product line described as Turbo C++, dating from mid to late 80s. Turbo C++ supported development of MS-DOS applications. It was one of a number of compiler products supported by Borland, including Turbo C, Turbo Pascal, and a couple of others.
The Borland C++ product line is a successor of the Turbo product line versions date from the early to mind 1990's, and supported development for MS-DOS and early (16 bit) versions of windows (3.1, etc). The later (more recent) versions of Borland C++ were shipped with an IDE that worked under MS-DOS and an IDE that worked under 16 bit windows.
C++ Builder is a development environment that specifically targets 32 bit windows development: the IDE runs under windows 95 and later, and (by default) generates executables for those versions of windows. It is also a RAD (Rapid Application Design) environment, in the sense that it allows design of GUI by drag and drop from a pallette. It is possible to configure the IDE so it produces DLLs and 32 bit console mode applications. Technically, C++ Builder is a derivative of a product named Delphi (which was an Object Pascal programming environment, specifically designed for RAD). Delphi was a very successful product: in fact Microsoft produced early versions of Visual Basic specifically to compete with Delphi. The GUI library in C++ Builder is the same as in Delphi (in fact, C++ Builder would compile Delphi source code), and C++ Builder includes a C++ compiler with extensions specifically designed to support the VCL (Visual Component Library) from Delphi. The Builder product line includes support for a number of programming languages: C++ Builder, C# Builder, J Builder (for Java), and of course Delphi (Object Pascal).
Borland toyed for a while with C++ Builder X, which was intended to be the successor of C++ Builder allowing development targeting windows, linux, and solaris. It was derived from C++ Builder in name only (information I've seen suggests it was a brand new compiler with a multi-platform GUI library based on Qt). It wasn't a commercial success.
Because of the failure of C++ Builder X, Borland resurrected the Builder line and went back to targeting windows. The latest versions of the Builder line are part of a new Turbo suite --- Borland have come full circle in their product naming. The Turbo product line includes Delphi, C++, C++, and "Delphi for .NET". They are separate products, but I've seen mention somewhere of a Borland Developer Studio which is apparently a suite that includes all of them.
hey grumpy, I had a copy of builderx personal, which as a free download from Borland.
it was a tool to port your borland project from one os to another, no compiler, you had to have builderx on the TARGET os to use it. it had zero devtools, zero compiler /code editing, it only converted the borland project to the new os in the calls, as long as there was a borland development tool for the os.
I had to use builderx and kylix to get a c++builder project to build on linux, it was not pretty, it would have been much easier to just develop it in kylix from the beginning.