Original author(s) | Borland, CodeGear, Embarcadero |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Embarcadero Technologies |
Type | IDE |
Website | delphi |
This page details the history of the programming language and software product Delphi .
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 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 in 1995, 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. [1]
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 1 features included:
Delphi 2, released in 1996, supported 32-bit Windows environments and bundled with Delphi 1 to retain 16-bit Windows 3.1 application development. New Quickreport components replacing Borland ReportSmith. Delphi 2 also introduced:
Delphi 3, released in 1997, added:
Inprise Delphi 4, released in 1998, completely overhauled the editor and became dockable. It was the last version shipped with Delphi 1 for 16-bit programming. New features included:
Borland Delphi 5 was released in 1999 and improved upon Delphi 4 by adding:
Shipped in 2001, Delphi 6 supported both Linux (using the name Kylix) and Windows for the first time and offered a cross-platform alternative to the VCL known as CLX. Delphi 6 also added:
Delphi 7, released in August 2002, added support for:
Used by more Delphi developers than any other single version, Delphi 7 is one of the most successful IDEs created by Borland. Its stability, speed, and low hardware requirements led to active use through 2020.
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 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 included:
Delphi 2005 was widely criticized [2] for its bugs; both Delphi 8 and Delphi 2005 had stability problems when shipped, which were only partially resolved in service packs. 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. Delphi 2006 included:
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.
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. Instead of selling it, Borland transferred the development tools group to an independent, wholly owned subsidiary company named CodeGear on November 14, 2006.
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. For the first time, Delphi could be downloaded from the internet and activated with a license key. New features included:
Delphi 2007 also dropped a few features:
Internationalized versions of Delphi 2007 shipped simultaneously in English, French, German and Japanese. RAD Studio 2007 (code named Highlander), which included .NET and C++Builder development, was released on September 5, 2007.
The CodeGear era produced an IDE targeting PHP development despite the word "Delphi" in the product name. Delphi for PHP was a VCL-like PHP framework that enabled the same Rapid Application Development methodology for PHP as in ASP.NET Web Form. Versions 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.
Borland 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.
Delphi 2009 (Delphi 12, code named Tiburón), added many new features:
Delphi 2009 dropped support for .NET development, [4] replaced by the Delphi Prism developed by RemObjects Software.
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 included:
Delphi XE (aka Delphi 2011, [7] code named Fulcrum), was released on August 30, 2010, and improved upon the development environment and language with:
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 [8] for a price less than a quarter of that of the next-cheapest version. This Starter 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 included:
Embarcadero said 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". Pre-2013 versions only supported iOS platform development with Xcode 4.2.1 and lower, OS X version 10.7 and lower, and iOS SDK 4.3 and earlier.
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 added:
On April 22, 2013, Embarcadero released RAD Studio XE4, which included Delphi XE4, and C++Builder but dropped Embarcadero Prism and HTML5 Builder. XE4 included the following changes:
On September 12, 2013, Embarcadero released RAD Studio XE5, which included Delphi XE5 and C++Builder. It added:
On April 15, 2014, Embarcadero released RAD Studio XE6, which included Delphi XE6 and C++Builder. It allows developers 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 added:
On September 2, 2014, Embarcadero released RAD Studio XE7, which included Delphi XE7 and C++Builder. Its biggest development enabled 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 API by compiling FMX projects for both desktop and mobile devices. XE7 also included:
On April 7, 2015, Embarcadero released RAD Studio XE8, which included Delphi XE8 and C++Builder. XE8 added the following tools:
On August 31, 2015, Embarcadero released RAD Studio 10 Seattle, which included Delphi and C++Builder. Seattle included:
In October 2015, Embarcadero was purchased by Idera Software. Idera continues to run the developer tools division under the Embarcadero brand.
On April 20, 2016, Embarcadero released RAD Studio 10.1 Berlin, which included Delphi and C++Builder, both generating native code for the 32- and 64-bit Windows platforms, OSX, iOS and Android (ARM, MIPS and X86 processors). Delphi 10.1 Berlin introduced:
Released September 2016, Update 1 added:
Released December 2016, Update 2 included:
On March 22, 2017, Embarcadero released RAD Studio 10.2 Tokyo, adding:
Released August 2017, Update 1 included:
Released December 2017, Update 2 included:
Released March 2018, Update 3 included:
On July 18, 2018, Embarcadero released Community Edition for free download. Commercial use limited to earning no more than US$5,000. Similar to Professional, but library source code and VCL/FMX components are more limited.
On November 21, 2018, Embarcadero released RAD Studio 10.3 Rio. This release had many improvements, including:
Released February 2019, Update 1 included:
Released July 2019, Update 2 and included:
Released November 2019, Update 3 included:
On May 26, 2020, Embarcadero released RAD Studio 10.4 Sydney with new features such as:
Released September 2020, Update 1 included:
Released February 24, 2021, Update 2 included:
On September 9, 2021, Embarcadero released RAD Studio 11 Alexandria with new features including:
On March 15, 2022, Embarcadero released RAD Studio 11.1 with new features including:
Released September 5, 2022, Update 2 included:
Released February 27, 2023, Update 3 included:
On November 7, 2023, Embarcadero released RAD Studio 12 Athens with new features.[ citation needed ]
C++Builder is a rapid application development (RAD) environment for developing software in the C++ programming language. Originally developed by Borland, as of 2009 it is owned by Embarcadero Technologies, a subsidiary of Idera. C++Builder can compile apps for Windows, iOS, macOS, and Android. It includes tools that allow drag-and-drop visual development, making programming easier by incorporating a WYSIWYG graphical user interface builder.
The Visual Component Library (VCL) is a visual component-based object-oriented framework for developing the user interface of Microsoft Windows applications. It is written in Object Pascal.
Component Library for Cross Platform (CLX), is a cross-platform visual component-based framework for developing Microsoft Windows and Linux applications. It was developed by Borland for use in its Kylix, Delphi, and C++ Builder software development environment.
Delphi is a general-purpose programming language and a software product that uses the Delphi dialect of the Object Pascal programming language and provides an integrated development environment (IDE) for rapid application development of desktop, mobile, web, and console software, currently developed and maintained by Embarcadero Technologies.
Object Pascal is an extension to the programming language Pascal that provides object-oriented programming (OOP) features such as classes and methods.
Free Pascal Compiler (FPC) is a compiler for the closely related programming-language dialects Pascal and Object Pascal. It is free software released under the GNU General Public License, with exception clauses that allow static linking against its runtime libraries and packages for any purpose in combination with any other software license.
Borland Kylix is a compiler and integrated development environment (IDE) formerly sold by Borland, but later discontinued. It is a Linux software development environment based on Borland Delphi and Borland C++ Builder, which runs under Microsoft Windows. Continuing Delphi's classical Greek theme, Kylix is the name for an ancient Greek drinking cup. The closest supported equivalent to Kylix is the free Lazarus IDE package, designed to be code-compatible with Delphi. As of 2010 the project has been resurrected in the form of Delphi cross compiler for Mac and Linux, as shown in the Embarcadero's Delphi and C++ Builder roadmap. As of September 2011 with Kylix discontinued the framework for cross-platform development by Embarcadero is FireMonkey.
A graphical user interface builder, also known as GUI designer or sometimes RAD IDE, is a software development tool that simplifies the creation of GUIs by allowing the designer to arrange graphical control elements using a drag-and-drop WYSIWYG editor. Without a GUI builder, a GUI must be built by manually specifying each widget's parameters in the source code, with no visual feedback until the program is run. Such tools are usually called the term RAD IDE.
Lazarus is a cross-platform, integrated development environment (IDE) for rapid application development (RAD) using the Free Pascal compiler. Its goal is to provide an easy-to-use development environment for developing with the Object Pascal language, which is as close as possible to Delphi. It is free and open-source software with different parts released under different software licenses.
Borland Database Engine (BDE) is the Windows-based core database engine and connectivity software behind Borland Delphi, C++Builder, IntraBuilder, Paradox for Windows, and Visual dBASE for Windows.
Turbo C++ is a discontinued C++ compiler and integrated development environment originally from Borland. It was designed as a home and hobbyist counterpart for Borland C++. As the developer focused more on professional programming tools, later Turbo C++ products were made as scaled down versions of its professional compilers.
Borland C++ was a C and C++ IDE released by Borland 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.
Turbo Delphi is a discontinued integrated development environment (IDE), created by CodeGear, for student, amateur, individual professionals, and hobbyist programmers. It used the programming language Delphi, which is a dialect of Object Pascal.
CodeGear is a wholly owned division of Embarcadero Technologies. CodeGear develops software development tools such as the Delphi Integrated development environment, the programming language Delphi, and the database server InterBase. Originally a division of Borland Software Corporation, it was launched on 14 November 2006.
Embarcadero Technologies, Inc. is an American computer software company that develops, manufactures, licenses and supports products and services related to software through several product divisions. It was founded in 1993, went public in 2000 and private in 2007, and became a division of Idera, Inc. in 2015.
OpenWire is an open-source dataflow programming library that extends the functionality of Embarcadero Delphi and C++ Builder by providing pin type component properties. The properties can be connected to each other. The connections can be used to deliver data or state information between the pins, simulating the functionality of LabVIEW, Agilent VEE and Simulink. OpenWire is available for Visual Component Library (VCL) and FireMonkey (FMX).
TeeChart is a charting library for programmers, developed and managed by Steema Software of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is available as commercial and non-commercial software. TeeChart has been included in most Delphi and C++Builder products since 1997, and TeeChart Standard currently is part of Embarcadero RAD Studio 12 Athens. TeeChart Pro version is a commercial product that offers shareware releases for all of its formats, TeeChart. Lite for .NET is a free charting component for the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET community and TeeChart for PHP is an open-source library for PHP environments. The TeeChart Charting Library offers charts, maps and gauges in versions for Delphi VCL/FMX, ActiveX, C# for Microsoft Visual Studio .NET, Java and PHP. Full source code has always been available for all versions except the ActiveX version. TeeChart's user interface is translated into 38 languages.
FireMonkey is a cross-platform GUI framework developed by Embarcadero Technologies for use in Delphi, C++Builder or Python, using Object Pascal, C++ or Python to build cross platform applications for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. A 3rd party library, FMX Linux, enables the building of FireMonkey applications on Linux.