Since a couple of weeks (apparently from August 23rd), the Delphi Registered Users Udpates page includes the option to download four free plugin tools:

  • Castalia is a very nice IDE addin, providing many extra editor and refactoring features, and much more. It has been the favorite IDE plugin since CodeRush moved to the MS camp.
  • CodeHealer is a very intriguing source code analysis tool. I've never used it myself, but I've seen interesting demos and plan playing with it.
  • Beyond Compare is by far the best source code comparion tool I've used, and I use it almost every day. I own a site license... but I remember suggesting Borland to use it rather than the internal history diff of the IDE, which I don't like at all.
  • Of BuilderBooster, I don't know much. Seems nice, though. I still remember C++ slow compile time...

Now, kudos to Borland (or I should say DevCo, I guess) for providing extra value to their current customers... hoping this won't be a "one-shot" offer, but they'll integrate these or similar technologies in future versions of their products.

But, and this is a relevant and recurring problem, I don't see how you launch an offer like this and tell only a few people... via the Delphi Hour, the newsgroups, some non-Borland blog entries... it is true I saw this mentioned on a local Borland/DevCo mailing list, it is true Borland Australia refers to it while presenting an event.... but it is not on bnd.borland.com nor on blogs.borland.com. Odd.

Anyway, the products above are not full versions. For example, this edition of Castalia includes (in the word of author Jacob Thurman):

* Structural Highlighting - http://www.twodesk.com/castalia/structural_highlighting.html
* Refactoring - "Rename Local Variable" and "Inline Temporary Variable" refactorings.
* Navigation toolbar - http://www.twodesk.com/castalia/code_navigation.html
* Modeless text search - http://www.twodesk.com/castalia/text_search.html

Even if not complete, this looks a valuable subset of the tool for those who don't own it. I guess similar deals are in place with the other vendors. By the way, you can now buy Castalia with a special wedding discount!