Delphi

What is Delphi and why do you have to learn to use it?

Delphi is a RAD (Rapid Application Development) type visual development environment. It is a development environment focused on rapid application development. It allows programmers to create applications quickly and with minimal effort. Furthermore, it also allows you to design the user interface of the application graphically, without having to write code, although you could also do it by writing code, there are no limits.

Currently, Delphi is distributed integrated with RAD Studio or as Delphi CE (Community Edition). You can get the product information from its official site using the following links.
Rad Studio https://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi

Delphi CE https://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi/starter

Delphi makes use of the Object Pascal language evolved from traditional Pascal, with many improvements, including Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), components, events, exceptions and many new features that have been constantly evolving and improving. Among its users, the language is also often referred to as Delphi.

Advantages

Easy to learn and use : Its clear and simple syntax makes it ideal for beginners. While its power makes it suitable for complex projects and in the hands of expert programmers there are no limits to what can be done with it.

Efficient and robust : Delphi generates native code for the target platform, which results in high performance and stability of applications developed on it.

Flexible and scalable : Allows you to create applications of all types, from small utilities to large business systems.

Extensible : Using Delphi itself, new components, libraries, and tools can be created that integrate with the IDE itself.

It has integrated debugging: The Delphi IDE includes powerful debuggers that make it easy to detect and correct errors.

Components

Delphi is focused on visual programming, making effective use of components. Visual and non-visual components enable rapid application development, saving the developer time and allowing you to reuse and integrate them into your applications, as easy as a simple click.

It offers two modes for developing visual applications, VCL and FireMonkey (FMX):

VCL (Visual Component Library) allows you to develop native Windows applications. VCL is a framework included in the first version of Delphi and actively developed from the beginning to the present, achieving perfect integration with the Windows API.
MX (FireMonkey) was released in 2011, as part of Delphi XE2, with an additional set of built-in compilers for non-Windows platforms. FireMonkey is a cross-platform framework for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Linux (x64). The GUI parts of FireMonkey rely heavily on Direct3D and OpenGL. FireMonkey does not support VCL; They are two separate frames. However, FireMonkey applications allow non-visual code units to be easily shared with VCL applications, allowing a large amount of code to be easily ported or shared across platforms.

Both the Visual Component Library (VLC) and FireMonkey include hundreds of components that are available, organized in the components’ palette. These provide the developer with components for almost all possible purposes (standard components, components for images, multimedia, networks (Indy), dialog boxes, reports, sensors, etc.).

Community

There is an active community and a large amount of resources. Delphi has an active community of developers who share information, tips, and code on forums, blogs, and websites. Additionally, Embarcadero, Delphi’s developer, offers a wide range of resources for developers.

Complete official documentation: Delphi documentation is extensive and covers all aspects of the language and IDE.

Delphi is the definitive tool that every programmer should know. Despite not being one of the most popular these days, it is one of the most powerful software development tools that exist. Below are some of the features that support this claim.

Delphi General Features

High level language
Multi-paradigm programming
Compiled language
Very fast compiler, among the fastest existing.
Application execution speed just like C or C++
Simple and clear syntax.
Excellent code readability, it’s like reading English.
Strongly typed language.
Object-oriented programming support
Multiplatform using FireMonkey (Microsoft Windows, macOS, GNU Linux, iOS, Android)
Few requirements for execution
Large number of components and libraries available
Large communities of users throughout the internet
Native integration with the main database engines on the market (SQlite, MS Access, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, BDE, dBase, Paradox, ODBC, Sysbase, IBX, IBO). (It is possible to connect to any of these databases in less than 60 seconds without using a line of code)
Possibility of embedding assembler code
Integrated Compiler, Linker, and Debugger.
Possibility of using third-party libraries and/or components
Multi thread programming possible
Support for version control systems such as SVN or Git.
Compatibility guaranteed over time. It is still possible to make apps in Delphi 7, and they work correctly on Windows 11.
Produces applications with low software and hardware requirements to function.
It supports integration with other languages like C++ or Python.

What can you do with Delphi?

Development possibilities with Delphi, although there are no limitations to do other things.

Visual Applications (With graphical user interface) (VLC, FMX)
Applications for console or terminal
Applications for Windows Control Panel
Client-server network applications
Dynamic libraries (DLL or others)
System Services
COM or DCOM services
APIs and Web Servers
Components and Packages
Web application backend.

Origins and evolution of Delphi

“The nameDelphirefers to the oracle of Delphi. Borland chose that name to highlight its main improvement over its predecessor (Turbo Pascal), which would be its connectivity with Oracle databases (oracle, in English). The name is usually pronounced delphi in Europe, including Britain. On the other hand, in the United States the pronunciation delfai is used, since there is a city called Delph i with that pronunciation. The latter,delfai, is Borland’s favorite.”  fragment taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphi_(software)

Delphi was released to the public by the Borland company. Released to the public for the first time on February 14, 1995, to create applications for Microsoft Windows in a Visual and very effective way.

Delphi versions according to the year of release.

1995     Delphi 1

1996     Delphi 2

1997     Delphi 3

1998    Delphi 4

1999     Delphi 5

2000    Delphi 6

2001     Delphi 7

2002     Delphi 7 (update)

2003    Delphi 8

2004    Delphi 2005

2006     Delphi 2006

2007     Delphi 2007

2008    Delphi 2009

2009     Delphi 2010

2010     Delphi XE

2011    Delphi XE2

2012    Delphi XE3

2013    Delphi XE4

2014    Delphi XE5

2015    Delphi XE6

2016    Delphi XE7

2017    Delphi 10 Seattle

2018    Delphi 10.1 Berlin

2019    Delphi 10.2 Tokyo

2020    Delphi 10.3 Rio

2021    Delphi 10.4 Sydney

2022    Delphi 11 Alexandria

2023     Delphi 12 Atenas

2024     Delphi 12.1 Atenas

Delphi editions

Community
Suitable for individual developers or early-stage startups with limited revenue.

Allows free use

Professional
Suitable for individual developers and small teams creating mobile and desktop applications.

Enterprise
Suitable for development teams building client/server or multi-tier applications, REST services, and similar.

Architect
Suitable for enterprise teams building databases, clouds, or web-enabled applications.

https://www.embarcadero.com/es/products/delphi/product-editions

Examples of famous software applications developed with Delphi

Delphi’s own IDE
Aida 64
Nero Burning Rom
Aimp
Tune Up
FL Studio
KMPlayer
Macromedia
Dreamwever
Skype
Total Comander
Embarcadero C++ Builder IDE
Commercial C++ IDE
InnoSetup
InstallAware
Panda Titanium Antivirus
SuperCopier
UltraISO
Gold Wave
TeamSpeack
Avant Browser

Examples of some video games

Space Rangers
Abra Academy
Tunngle
Soldat
Age of Wonders

Emulators

nesTen : Nintendo emulator
WinNes – Nintendo emulator
ulTee – another Nintendo emulator
DSP : Arcade emulator
Dolphin : Nintendo Gamecube and WII emulator
DxBx – XBox emulator

Popular Delphi Websites

Language Reference in Rad Studio XE 12 http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/Athens/en/Delphi_Language_Reference
Learn Delphi https://learndelphi.org/
Delphi from Scratch https://delphidondecero.com/
Club Delphi https://www.clubdelphi.com/
https://neftali.clubdelphi.com/

Some Delphi YouTube channels

If after seeing all this, you are still not convinced of the potential of this great tool, we challenge you to look for something that you think cannot be implemented with Delphi.

Eidy EV

Computer Science Engineer with over 10 years of experience in information technology. Has held roles as a Software Architect, Analyst, Senior Software Full stack developer, Network and Systems Administrator (Sysadmin), and Information Security Specialist (Pentester).