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This is an exciting time in the field of high-level development. Visual Basic and Perl have legitimized HLD for serious application development, both corporate and hobbyist, and Java has popularized the “write once, deploy anywhere” concept of cross-platform development. Dozens of other environments are all vying for attention.

REALbasic and Revolution both seek to take advantage of the situation, but from different perspectives. REALbasic is, at its heart, a Macintosh tool. It seeks to be the tool of Macintosh developers who may want to deliver Windows applications as well. Revolution is inherently cross-platform. It seeks to be the premiere cross-platform high-level development tool, equally at home on any platform. REALbasic has more low-level access; Revolution has a much more flexible development environment.

In any decision regarding HLD tools, it is crucial to take into consideration the capabilities of the tools and the scope of the anticipated work. Some projects are excellent candidates for an HLD approach. Other projects are less ideal, or simply impractical within the toolsets HLD environments offer.

It would be a mistake to underestimate either REALbasic or Revolution. Both offer deep feature sets, capable of undertaking many projects — even those that might at first appear to be poor candidates for HLD development. In addition, both are extensible, allowing an HLD approach for interface and general program logic, with a traditional development environment handling the heavy lifting.

Those looking primarily to develop Macintosh applications on the Macintosh would do well to consider REALbasic, despite the steeper learning curve. The lower price for the Macintosh-only standard edition, combined with greater integration into the Macintosh environment, make it a good choice. Likewise, for database-driven applications, REALbasic is especially strong and developers would do well to consider it.

Those who plan to develop for or on Linux or other versions of Unix, or to develop on Windows, must choose Revolution — REALbasic is a non-starter under these circumstances, since its development environment runs only on the Macintosh and it cannot create applications for Unix.

Those who plan to develop on the Macintosh but deliver cross-platform, even if it is only to Windows, should give careful consideration to the advantages Revolution offers. For cross-platform work, the ability to debug on Windows is decisive. Even for Mac-only development, the shorter learning curve, live debugging, easily extensible environment, and simpler, more powerful language make a strong case for Revolution.

While this paper has been written to provide an objective comparison between the two products, all development is influenced by personal preference and experience. Trial versions of both products are available. Anyone considering which to use for a development project would do well to evaluate both tools in the context of the project at hand.