Why are there so many $IF DEFINED(CLR) in the VCL/RTL?

Question

I've just compared the Delphi 2009 VCL/RTL code to the 2010 one.

I noticed that there are many $IF DEFINED(CLR) conditional defines and they got more in the 2010 version.

I thought that these conditional defines have fall into disuse, since Delphi .NET has been discontinued. The VCL/RTL aren't really used in Delphi Prism? Or are they?

Smother

The Common Language Runtime (CLR) is a key component to the .NET Framework – Interlocutrix

Answer 1

We're still using Delphi.NET internally for parts of the IDE and for some of the .NET versions of DBXpress delivered with Delphi Prism. Because of that, we're maintaining the CLR portions insofar as what is needed by those parts of the product. We're also actively reworking things to reduce and eventually eliminate our own dependence on Delphi.NET.

I suppose we could have stripped those portions of the code out...

Joannjoanna

"We're also actively reworking things to reduce and eventually eliminate our own dependence on Delphi.NET" Does it mean reducing and eventually eliminating .Net dependency in the IDE? So that some .Net depended features like refactoring will be implemented in native code? Regards – Tertias

No, only the dependencies on Delphi.NET. Since we now heavily rely on MSBuild for our entire build process, the dependency on .NET will likely remain for the foreseeable future. – Joannjoanna

And the Together-based refactoring J# code is likely to remain in J# and thus, depend on .net more or less forever. – Phene