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Delphi programming language

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Delphi is the primary programming language of Borland Delphi. The Delphi language is a derivative of Borland's Object Pascal, which is itself a derivative of Pascal.

The Delphi programming language was created by Borland and debuted with the first version of Borland Delphi. Borland sells integrated development environments (IDEs) that compile the Delphi programming language to Microsoft Windows, the Microsoft .NET Framework and Linux. The open source Free Pascal project allows the language to be compiled for Mac OS X, Win64 and Windows CE.

Programming language and toolkit

The main distinguishing features of Delphi and Kylix from other IDEs are the Delphi language, the VCL/CLX (Visual Component Library), strong emphasis on database connectivity, and a large number of third party components.

  • delegation of interface implementation to a field or property of the class
  • implementation of message handlers by tagging a method of a class with the integer constant of the message to handle
  • COM independent interfaces with reference counted class implementations
  • can be compiled into native x86 code or managed .NET code



Alternative compilers

There are a number of compilers that are more or less compatible with the Object Pascal language from Delphi.

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.

  • Free Pascal A commandline compiler that aims source compatibility with the core feature set of both the Turbo Pascal and Delphi dialects. The current version is 2.0(.2), which are highly Delphi6/7 compatible. Operates on most x86 operating systems. Supports Linux, Mac OS and Mac OS X (including an Xcode implementation) on PowerPC family, and Linux on AMD64. SPARC and Acorn RISC Machine (ARM) architectures are working and formally released but not 100% end-user ready yet.
  • GNU Pascal (Separately distributed part of the GNU Compiler Collection) While formally not aimed at the Borland dialects of Pascal, it does contain a Borland Pascal compatibility mode, and is very slowly absorbing Delphi language features, though not yet directly suitable for recompiling large bodies of Delphi code. It is the most prolific compiler in terms of operating systems and processors though, and therefore deserves mentioning as a last resort.
  • InnerFuse is a Delphi interpreter for embedding in applications. It is rumoured to work with several of the alternatives too.
  • Vector Pascal Vector Pascal is a language targeted at SIMD instruction sets such as the MMX and the AMD 3d Now, supporting all Intel and AMD processors, as well as the Sony Playstation 2 Emotion Engine.
  • Virtual Pascal is a x86 32-bit Turbo Pascal and Delphi compatible compiler mainly aimed at OS/2 and Windows, though it developed a DOS+Extender and an experimental Linux cross-compiler too. The compiler is stuck on the level of about Delphi V2, and the site hasn't changed significantly in two years, and development of Virtual Pascal has stopped. Nevertheless, of the free alternatives, it is still the one with the best polished IDE and debugger though Free Pascal is getting nearer and nearer.
  • Winsoft Pocket Studio aims to compile stripped down Delphi code to PDAs.

Documentation

Delphi Developer documentation from Borland:

More from Delphi Developer Support section (FTP archives).

See also

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