Borland Turbo C

Turbo C is an Integrated Development Environment and compiler for the C programming language from Borland. First introduced in 1987, it was noted for its integrated development environment, small size, fast compile speed, comprehensive manuals and low price.

In May 1990, Borland replaced Turbo C with Turbo C++. In 2006, Borland reintroduced the Turbo moniker.

Early history

In the early 1980s, Borland enjoyed considerable success with their Turbo Pascal product and it became a popular choice when developing applications for the PC. Borland followed up that success by releasing Turbo Basic, Turbo Prolog and Turbo C. Turbo C had the same properties as Turbo Pascal: an integrated development environment, a fast compiler (though not near the speed of Turbo Pascal), a good editor, and a competitive price.

Turbo C was not as successful as the Pascal-sister product. First, C was a language for professional programming and systems development rather than a school language. Turbo C competed with other professional programming tools (Microsoft C, Lattice C, Watcom C, etc.). Turbo C did, however, have advantages in speed of compiled code, large project support and price. It is developed in C.

Borland C++

Borland C++ is a C and C++ programming environment (that is, an integrated development environment) for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. It was the successor to Turbo C++, and included a better debugger, the Turbo Debugger, which was written in protected mode DOS.

Libraries

Object Windows Library (OWL): A set of C++ classes to make it easier to develop professional graphical Windows applications.

Turbo Vision: A set of C++ classes to create professional applications in DOS. Those classes mimics some of the aspects of a Windows application like: dialog boxes, messages pumps, menus, accelerators, etc.

Borland Graphics Interface: A library of functions for doing simple, presentation-style 2D graphics. Drivers were included for generic CGA, EGA and VGA capability, with support for a limited number of video-modes, but more advanced, third-party drivers were also available.

Add-ons

Borland Power Pack for DOS: Used to create 16- and 32-bit protected mode DOS applications, which can access a limited scope of the Windows API and call functions in any Windows DLL.

Turbo C++

Turbo C++ was a C++ compiler and integrated development environment and computer language originally from Borland. Most recently it was distributed by Embarcadero Technologies, which acquired all of Borland's compiler tools with the purchase of its CodeGear division in 2008. The original Turbo C++ product line was put on hold after 1994 and was revived in 2006 as an introductory-level IDE, essentially a stripped-down version of their flagship C++Builder. Turbo C++ 2006 was released on September 5, 2006 and was available in 'Explorer' and 'Professional' editions. The Explorer edition was free to download and distribute while the Professional edition was a commercial product. In October 2009 Embarcadero Technologies discontinued support of its 2006 C++ editions. As such, the Explorer edition is no longer available for download and the Professional edition is no longer available for purchase from Embarcadero Technologies. Turbo C++ is succeeded by C++Builder.

History

The first release of Turbo C++ was made available during the MS-DOS era on personal computers. Version 1.0, running on MS-DOS, was released in May 1990. An OS/2 version was produced as well. Version 1.01 was released on February 28, 1991, running on MS-DOS. The latter was able to generate both COM and EXE programs and was shipped with Borland's Turbo Assembler compiler for Intel x86 processors. The initial version of the Turbo C++ compiler was based on a front end developed by TauMetric (TauMetric was later acquired by Sun Microsystems and their front end was incorporated in Sun C++ 4.0, which shipped in 1994).This compiler supported the AT&T 2.0 release of C++.