Embarcadero Delphi is an integrated development environment (IDE) for desktop, mobile, web, and console applications.It's also an event driven language. Delphi's compilers use their own Object Pascal dialect of Pascaland generate native code for several platforms: Windows (x86 and x64), OS X (32-bit only), iOS (32 and 64-bit), Android and Linux (64-bit Intel).
Delphi, part of RAD Studio, includes a code editor with Code Insight (code completion), Error Insight (real-time error-checking), and other features; refactoring; a visual forms designer for both VCL (native Windows) and FMX(cross-platform, partially native per platform); an integrated debugger for all platforms including mobile; source control (SVN, git, and Mercurial); and support for third-party plugins. It has strong database support. It is not unusual for a Delphi project of a million lines to compile in a few seconds – one benchmark gave 170,000 lines per second. It is under active development, with (in 2016) releases every six months, with new platforms being added approximately every second release
Delphi was originally developed by Borland as a rapid application development tool for Windows as the successor of Turbo Pascal. Delphi added full object-orientation to the existing language, and since then the language has grown and supports many other modern language features, including generics and anonymous methods, as well as unusual features such as inbuilt string types and native COM support. Delphi and its C++ counterpart, C++Builder, share many core components, notably the IDE, the Visual Component Library (VCL), and much of the RTL, and are compatible with each other: C++Builder 6 and onwards can consume Delphi-language files and C++ in the one project, and packages compiled with C++Builder written in C++ can be used from within Delphi. In 2007, the products were released jointly as RAD Studio. RAD Studio is a shared host for Delphi and C++Builder, and can be purchased with either or both.
In 2006, Borland’s developer tools section was transferred from Borland to a wholly owned subsidiary known as CodeGear, which was sold to Embarcadero Technologies in 2008. In 2015, Embarcadero was purchased by Idera Software, but the Embarcadero mark was retained for the developer tools division.
Delphi was originally one of many codenames of a pre-release development tool project at Borland. Borland developer Danny Thorpe suggested the Delphi codename in reference to the Oracle at Delphi. One of the design goals of the product 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 [the] Oracle, go to Delphi".
As development continued towards the first release, the Delphi codename gained popularity among the development team and beta testing group. However, the Borland marketing leadership preferred a functional product name over an iconic name and made preparations to release the product under the name "Borland AppBuilder".
Shortly before the release of the Borland product, Novell AppBuilder was released, leaving Borland in need of a new product name. After much debate and many market research surveys, the Delphi codename became the Delphi product name.
The chief architect behind Delphi was Anders Hejlsberg, who had developed Turbo Pascal. He was persuaded to move to Microsoft in 1996.
On February 8, 2006 Borland announced that it was looking for a buyer for its IDE and database line of products, including Delphi, to concentrate on its ALM line. On November 14, 2006 Borland transferred the development tools group to an independent subsidiary company named CodeGear, instead of selling it. Borland subsequently sold CodeGear to Embarcadero Technologies in 2008. Embarcadero retained the CodeGear division created by Borland to identify its tool and database offerings, but identified its own database tools under the DatabaseGear name. In 2015, Embarcadero was purchased by Idera Software, but the Embarcadero mark was retained for the developer tools division.
Delphi (later known as Delphi 1) was released in 1995 for the 16-bit Windows 3.1, and was an early example of what became known as Rapid Application Development (RAD) tools. Delphi evolved from Borland's "Turbo Pascal for Windows", itself an evolution with Windows support from Borland's Turbo Pascal and Borland Pascal with Objects, very fast 16-bit native-code MS-DOS compilers with their own sophisticated integrated development environment (IDE) and textual user interface toolkit for DOS (Turbo Vision). Early Turbo Pascal (for MS-DOS) was written in a dialect of the Pascal programming language; in later versions support for objects was added, and it was named Object Pascal. Delphi has always used Object Pascal, which continued to be developed, as its underlying object-oriented language.
Delphi 2, released in 1996, supported 32-bit Windows environments. Delphi 1 was bundled with it for creation of 16-bit Windows 3.1 applications. New Quickreport components replacing Borland ReportSmith.
Delphi 3, released in 1997, added new VCL components encapsulating the 4.71 version of Windows Common Controls (such as Rebar and Toolbar), TDataset architecture separated from BDE, DLL debugging, the code insight technology, component packages, component templates, DecisionCube and Teechart components for statistical graphing, WebBroker, ActiveForms, MIDAS three tier architecture, component packages and integration with COM through interfaces.
Inprise Delphi 4 was released in 1998. IDE came with a completely overhauled editor and became dockable. VCL added support for ActionLists anchors and constraints. Additional improvements were method overloading, dynamic arrays, Windows 98 support, Javainteroperability, high performance database drivers, CORBA development, and Microsoft BackOffice support. It was the last version shipped with Delphi 1 for 16 bit programming.
Borland Delphi 5 was released in 1999. Added concept of frames, parallel development, translation capabilities, enhanced integrated debugger, XML support, ADO database support and reference counting interfaces
In 2001 Borland released a Linux version of Delphi, named Kylix. To get a product out quickly and cheaply, they made the IDE depend on the Wine libraries rather than Linux's native system libraries (glibc). The expense of developing a native glibc version of Kylix, combined with the lack of Linux adoption among programmers at the time, made sales go soft, and Kylix was abandoned after version 3. This was the first attempt to add Linux support in the Delphi product family.
Kylix used the new CLX cross-platform framework, instead of Delphi's VCL.
Attempts to support both Linux and Windows for cross-platform development were made, and a cross-platform alternative to the VCL known as CLX shipped in 2001 with the release of Delphi 6. This was the second product in Borland's series of Linux-compatible native developer tools, establishing code-compatible IDEs for both Linux (see Kylix above) and Windows (Delphi 6) using the shared CLX component framework for both. Later efforts would include CLX in C++Builder 6 and add C++ code-compatibility to the RAD tools line.
Delphi 6 included the same CLX version (CLX 1) as the first version of Kylix. CLX 1 had been created before Delphi 6; its feature set was based on VCL 5 and lacked some features added to the VCL 6 shipped with Delphi 6.
Delphi 7, released in August 2002, became the standard version used by more Delphi developers than any other single version. It is one of the most successful IDEs created by Borland because of its stability, speed and low hardware requirements, and remains in active use as of 2017. Delphi 7 added support for Windows XP Themes, and added more support for building Web applications. It was the last version of Delphi that did not require mandatory software activation.
Delphi 8 (Borland Developer Studio 2.0), released December 2003, was a .NET-only release that compiled Delphi Object Pascal code into .NET CIL; the IDE was rewritten for this purpose. The IDE changed to a docked interface (called Galileo) similar to Microsoft's Visual Studio.NET. Delphi 8 was highly criticized[by whom?] for its low quality and its inability to create native applications (Win32 API/x86 code). The inability to generate native applications is only applicable to this release; the capability would be restored in the next release.
The next version, Delphi 2005 (Delphi 9, also Borland Developer Studio 3.0), 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 widely criticizedfor its bugs; both Delphi 8 and Delphi 2005 had stability problems when shipped, which were only partially resolved in service packs. The ability to compile native windows applications (*.exe) was added back into Delphi 2005 after being removed in Delphi 8. CLX support was dropped for new applications from this release onwards.
In late 2005 Delphi 2006 (Delphi 10, also Borland Developer Studio 4.0) was released combining development of C# and Delphi.NET, Delphi Win32 and C++ (Preview when it was shipped but stabilized in Update 1) into a single IDE. It was much more stable than Delphi 8 or Delphi 2005 when shipped, and improved further with the release of two updates and several hotfixes.
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 editions of Borland Developer Studio 2006, bringing back the Turbo name. The Turbo product set included Turbo Delphi for Win32, Turbo Delphi for .NET, Turbo C++, and Turbo C#. There were two variants of each edition: Explorer, a free downloadable flavor, and a Professional flavor, priced at US$899 for new users and US$399 for upgrades, which opened access to thousands of third-party components. Unlike earlier Personal editions of Delphi, Explorer editions could be used for commercial development.
Photo of Delphi 2007 box as released by CodeGear in spring 2007.
Delphi 2007 (Delphi 11), the first version by CodeGear, was released on March 16, 2007. The Win32 personality was released first, before the .NET personality of Delphi 2007 based on .NET Framework 2.0 was released as part of the CodeGear RAD Studio 2007 product. New features included support for MSBuild and enhancements to the VCL for Windows Vista, but the C#Builder feature was dropped in this release as sales were not as high as expected due to Visual Studio also offering C#. The Windows Form designer for Delphi .NET was also dropped in 2007 because it is based on part of the .NET framework API, which Microsoft had changed so drastically in .NET 2.0 that updating the IDE would have been a major undertaking. Delphi 2007 also introduced DBX4 as the next version of dbExpress. For the first time Delphi could be downloaded from the Internet and activated with a license key. Internationalized versions of Delphi 2007 shipped simultaneously in English, French, German and Japanese. RAD Studio 2007 (code named Highlander), which includes .NET and C++Builder development, was released on September 5, 2007.
In CodeGear era emerged an IDE targeting PHP development despite the word "Delphi" in its name. That one is Delphi for PHP whose highlight is a VCL-like PHP framework which enables for PHP the same Rapid Application Development methodology as in ASP.NET Web Form. Version 1.0 and 2.0 were released in March 2007 and April 2008 respectively. The IDE would later evolve into RadPHP after CodeGear's acquisition by Embarcadero.
Delphi 2009 (Delphi 12, code named Tiburón), added many new features such as completely reworking the VCL and RTL for full Unicode support, and added generics and anonymous methods for Win32 native development. Support for .NET development was dropped from the mainstream Delphi IDE starting with this version, and was catered for by the new Delphi Prism 2009 (Version 1.0).
Delphi Prism was developed by RemObjects Software and distributed by Embarcadero from 2008 to replace Delphi.NET. It is a combination of RemObjects's mostly Delphi-compatible .NET compiler (without RTL or VCL), a version of the Microsoft Visual Studio Shell without C# or VB support, and some Embarcadero technologies such as dbExpress. Prism is cross-platform capable insofar as it supports the Mono .NET libraries.
Delphi 2010 (code-named Weaver, aka Delphi 14; there was no version 13), was released on August 25, 2009 and is the second Unicode release of Delphi. It includes a new compiler run-time type information (RTTI) system, support for Windows 7 Direct2D, touch screen and gestures, a source code formatter, debugger visualizers and the option to also have the old style component palette in the IDE. The new RTTI system makes larger executables than previous versions.
Delphi Prism 2010 (Version 3.0) which is the last Visual Studio 2008 only based one was also released in August 2009.
Delphi XE (aka Delphi 2011,[12] code named Fulcrum), was released on August 30, 2010 with Delphi support for Amazon EC2, Microsoft Azure were bundled.
Delphi Prism XE (Version 4.0) which is the first Visual Studio 2010 based one (However, it can also integrated into Visual Studio 2008) was also released in August 2010. It is essentially a rebranded Delphi Prism 2011 (also Version 4.0) which was released three months earlier.
RadPHP had been incorporated in to RAD Studio since RadPHP XE (Version 3.0) that was evolved from the formal Delphi for PHP product developed by CodeGear in its Borland days.
On January 27, 2011 Embarcadero announced the availability of a new Starter Edition that gives independent developers, students and micro businesses a slightly reduced feature set for a price less than a quarter of that of the next-cheapest version. This Stater edition is based upon Delphi XE with update 1.
On September 1, 2011 Embarcadero released RAD Studio XE2 (code-named Pulsar,) which included Delphi XE2, C++Builder, Embarcadero Prism XE2 (Version 5.0 later upgraded to XE2.5 Version 5.1) which was rebranded from Delphi Prism and RadPHP XE2 (Version 4.0).
Delphi XE2 natively supports 64-bit Windows (except the starter edition), in addition to the long-supported 32-bit versions, with some backwards compatibility. Applications for 64-bit platforms can be compiled, but not tested or run, on the 32-bit platform. The XE2 IDE cannot debug 64-bit programs on Windows 8 and above.
Delphi XE2 is supplied with both the VCL, and an alternative library called FireMonkey that supports Windows, Mac OS X and the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad portable devices. FireMonkey and VCL are not compatible; one or the other must be used, and older VCL applications cannot use Firemonkey unless user interfaces are recreated with FireMonkey forms and controls. Third parties have published information on how to use Firemonkey forms in VCL software, to facilitate gradual migration, but even then VCL and Firemonkey controls cannot be used on the same form.[ Embarcadero says that Linux operating system support "is being considered for the roadmap", as is Android, and that they are "committed to ... FireMonkey. ... expect regular and frequent updates to FireMonkey".
On September 4, 2012 Embarcadero released RAD Studio XE3, which included Delphi XE3, C++Builder, Embarcadero Prism XE3 (Version 5.2) and HTML5 Builder XE3 (Version 5.0) which was upgraded and rebranded from RadPHP.
Delphi XE3 natively supports both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows (including Windows 8), and provides support for Mac OS X with the Firemonkey 2/FM² framework. iOS support was dropped with XE3 release initially (with intent to add support back in with a separate product – Mobile Studio), but applications can continue to be targeted to that platform by developing with Delphi XE2.
On April 22, 2013 Embarcadero released RAD Studio XE4, which included Delphi XE4, and C++Builder. There has been no major upgrade for either Embarcadero Prism or HTML5 Builder thence.
Delphi XE4 is the first release of the FireMonkey mobile platform, featuring cross-platform mobile application development for the iOS Simulator and iOS Devices.
In this version Embarcadero introduces two new compilers for Delphi mobile applications, the Delphi Cross Compiler for the iOS Simulator and the Delphi Cross Compiler for the iOS Devices. These compilers significantly differ from the Win64 desktop compiler as they do not support COM, inline assembly of CPU instructions, and six older string types such as PChar.
The new mobile compilers advance the notion of eliminating pointers. The new compilers require an explicit style of marshalling data to and from external APIs and libraries.
Delphi XE4 Run-Time Library (RTL) is optimized for 0-based, read-only (immutable) Unicode strings, that cannot be indexed for the purpose of changing their individual characters. The RTL also adds status-bit based exception routines for ARM CPUs that do not generate exception interrupts.
On September 12, 2013 Embarcadero released RAD Studio XE5, which includes Delphi XE5 and C++Builder.
It adds support for Android (specifically: ARM v7 devices running Gingerbread (2.3.3–2.3.7), Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0.3–4.0.4) and Jelly Bean (4.1.x, 4.2.x, 4.3.x)) and iOS 7.
On April 15, 2014 Embarcadero released RAD Studio XE6, which included Delphi XE6 and C++Builder.
It allows to create natively-compiled apps for all platforms for, desktop, mobile, and wearable devices like Google Glass, with a single C++ or Object Pascal (Delphi) codebase. RAD Studio XE6 adds support for Android 4.4 KitKat. It also became possible to create FireMonkey mobile apps for Android.
On September 2, 2014 Embarcadero released RAD Studio XE7, which included Delphi XE7 and C++Builder.
It enables Delphi/Object Pascal and C++ developers to extend existing Windows applications and build apps that connect desktop and mobile devices with gadgets, cloud services, and enterprise data and APIs. Also, it enables developers to extend Windows applications using WiFi and Bluetooth App Tethering, and create shared user interface code across multiple device form factors, etc.
On April 7, 2015 Embarcadero released RAD Studio XE8, which included Delphi XE8 and C++Builder.
On August 31, 2015 Embarcadero released RAD Studio 10 Seattle, which included Delphi and C++Builder.
On April 20, 2016 Embarcadero released RAD Studio 10.1 Berlin, which included Delphi and C++Builder, both generating native code for the platforms Windows 32 and 64-bit, OSX, iOS and Android (ARM, MIPS and X86 processors). Delphi 10.1 Berlin Update 2 introduced the ability to create Windows 10 Store applications from the Delphi IDE using Desktop Bridge.
On March 22, 2017 Embarcadero released RAD Studio 10.2 Tokyo, adding 64-bit Linux support, limited to console and non-visual applications. In addition this release features RTL and IDE improvements, multi-tenancy support in RAD server and improved database capabilities.
A few famous or well-known applications and games developed in Delphi include: