| Borland Delphi |
Article Index for Borland |
Website Links For Borland |
Information AboutBorland Delphi |
|
Borland Delphi (now a product of Borland's subsidiary, CodeGear ) is a software development package created by Borland . The 11th and latest version, Delphi 2007 supports the Delphi programming language ( Object Pascal ) and C++ for the 32 bit Microsoft Windows platform, and Delphi and C# for the Microsoft .NET platform. Delphi's most popular use is the development of Desktop and Enterprise Database applications, but as a general-purpose development tool it is capable of, and is used for, most types of development projects. The Delphi product is distributed as various suites: Personal, Professional, Enterprise (formerly Client/Server) and Architect. DISTINGUISHING FEATURES The main features that distinguish Delphi and Kylix from other IDEs are:
Advantages Delphi exhibits the following advantages:
Disadvantages
HISTORY Delphi was one of the first of what came to be known as ''RAD'' tools, for Rapid Application Development , when released in 1995 for the 16-bit Windows 3.1 . Delphi 2, released a year later, supported 32-bit Windows environments, and a C++ variant, C++ Builder , followed a few years after. The chief architect behind Delphi was Anders Hejlsberg , who also developed its predecessor Turbo Pascal . Hejlsberg would later move to Microsoft in 1996 , where he worked on Visual J++ , and was a key participant in the creation of the Microsoft .NET Framework, becoming the chief designer of C# . In 2001 a Linux version known as Kylix became available. However, due to low quality and subsequent lack of interest, Kylix was abandoned after version 3. Support for Linux and Windows cross platform development (through Kylix and the CLX component library) was added in 2002 with the release of Delphi 6. Delphi 8, released December 2003 , was a .NET -only release that allowed developers to compile Delphi Object Pascal code into .NET CIL . It was also significant in that it changed its IDE for the first time, from the multiple-floating-window-on-desktop style IDE to a Look And Feel similar to Microsoft's Visual Studio.NET. Although Borland fulfilled one of the biggest requests from developers (.NET support), it was criticized both for making it available too late, when a lot of former Delphi developers had already moved to C#, and for focusing so much on backward compatibility that it was not very easy to write new code in Delphi. Delphi 8 also lacked significant high-level features of the C# language, as well as many of the more appealing features of Microsoft's Visual Studio IDE. (There were also concerns about the future of Delphi Win32 development. Because Delphi 8 did not support Win32, Delphi 7.1 was included in the Delphi 8 package.) The next version, Delphi 2005 (Delphi 9), included the Win32 and .NET development in a single IDE, reiterating Borland's commitment to Win32 developers. Delphi 2005 includes design-time manipulation of live data from a database. It also includes an improved IDE and added a ''for ... in'' statement (like C#'s Foreach ) to the language. However, it was criticized by some for its bugs; both Delphi 8 and Delphi 2005 had stability problems when shipped, which were only partially resolved in service packs. In late 2005 , Delphi 2006 was released and federated development of C# and Delphi.NET, Delphi Win32 and C++ into a single IDE. It was much more stable than Delphi 8 or Delphi 2005 when shipped, and improved even more after the service packs and several hotfixes. On February 8 , 2006 , Borland announced that it was looking for a buyer for its IDE and database line of products, which include Delphi, to concentrate on its ALM line. The news met with voluble optimism from the remaining Delphi users. On September 6 , 2006 , The Developer Tools Group (the working name of the not yet spun off company) of Borland Software Corporation released single language versions of Borland Developer Studio, bringing back the popular ''Turbo'' moniker. The Turbo product set includes Turbo Delphi for Win32, Turbo Delphi for .NET, Turbo C++, and Turbo C#. Each version is available in two editions: ''Explorer''—a free downloadable version—and ''Professional''—a relatively cheap (US$399) version which opens access to thousands of third-party components. Unlike earlier ''Personal'' editions of Delphi, new ''Explorer'' editions can be used for commercial development. On November 14 , 2006 , Borland announced the cancellation of the sale of its Development tools; instead of that it would spin them off into an independent company named CodeGear .1 Delphi 2007 was released on March 16 , 2007 . It was the first Delphi release by CodeGear. Furthermore, it was the first version of Delphi since version 7 that allowed compilation of native 32-Bit Windows Applications only. New features included support for MS Build and enhancements to the Visual Component Library for Windows Vista. Furthermore, CodeGear introduced DBX4 as the next version of dbExpress. For the first time, one could download Delphi online from the internet and activate it using a license key. International customers were immediately served by releasing the product not only in English on this day, but also in French, German and Japanese. ''See also: Delphi 2007 on the Delphi Wiki The name Delphi was originally a confidential research project at Borland which evolved into a product that was to be called AppBuilder. Developer Danny Thorpe chose the ''Delphi'' codename in reference to the Oracle At Delphi . One of the original goals of Delphi was to provide database connectivity to programmers as a key feature and a popular database package at the time was Oracle Database ; hence, "If you want to talk to {Link without Title} Oracle, go to Delphi". As development continued, the name grew on them and there was growing support within Borland for the name Delphi. Shortly before the first release of Borland's AppBuilder, Novell AppBuilder was released, leaving Borland in need of a new name. After much struggle, the name Delphi prevailed.2 Microsoft hirings , Chief Scientist at that time, likewise left Borland and joined Google in 2005 only to later join Microsoft in 2006 . {Link without Title} . RELATED SOFTWARE Delphi for PHP Delphi for PHP is an IDE for PHP . It provides true RAD functionality. It features delphi or VB like form designer, integrated debugger (based on Apache web server). It also includes VCL library ported to PHP. Support for Web 2.0 features like AJAX, makes it a unique IDE. This Product was announced in March 20, 2007 and is based on Qadram Qstudio. Qstudio is no more in production at Qadram since codegear is now whole and sole owner for the Qstudio codebase. Products developed with Delphi There are many products developed with Delphi. The most well-known ones are (grouped by areas):
Clones and alternatives There are several Object Pascal compilers out there, but there are also products that try to clone the whole framework provided by Borland Delphi. Some of these can get Delphi code running in ways not possible with Delphi (such as supporting different operating systems, free distribution and educational use, and allowing examination of the compiler source) and allow for some vendor independence. These are generally used educationally and to get the server parts of Delphi apps running on non-mainstream operating systems; most had Linux support years before Kylix .
REFERENCES Documentation Delphi developer documentation from Borland:
More from Delphi Developer Support section ( FTP archives ). EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|