Twenty Six years of innovation have brought Delphi 1 which targeted Windows 3.1 to Delphi 10.4.1 which targets Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, Linux, and HTML5. It was primarily used to build Windows applications however with time it supported all other platforms.
Delphi was originally developed by Borland as the successor to Turbo Pascal with Anders Hejlsberg as its chief architect. After the first release in 1995, it has been regularly updated.
Delphi, known officially as Embarcadero Delphi, is a proprietary programming language and software development kit (SDK) from Embarcadero Technologies.
Delphi has always been about creating apps faster with less coding effort. Today apps can be created for many platforms. Write once, compile everywhere. The core tenants launched in 1995 of the award winning VCL framework for Windows and FireMonkey (FMX) visual framework for cross-platform UIs provide the foundation for intuitive, beautiful user interfaces that wow users today on every platform: Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Linux, and HTML5.
The latest stable release currently is RAD Studio 10.4.1 Sydney.
Let’s see the milestones that Delphi gradually progressed to play an important role in the techy world.
DELPHI 1- FEBRUARY 14th,1995
16-bit Windows 3.1 support, Visual Two-Way tools, Components/VCL, Database support via BDE and SQL Links, Database data live at design time.
DELPHI 2(1996)
32-bit Windows 95 support, Database Grid, OLE automation, Visual form inheritance, Long Strings, Included Delphi 1 for 16-bit.
DELPHI 3(1997)
Interfaces(COM based), Code Insight, Component Templates, DLL Debugging, WebBroker, ActiveForms, Component Packages, MIDAS multi-tier architechture.
DELPHI 4 (1998)
Docking, Anchors and Constraints, Method Overloading, Dynamic arrays, Windows 98 support.
DELPHI 5 (1999)
Desktop layouts, Frames, XML support, DBGo for ADO, Language Translations.
DELPHI 6 (2001)
Structure Window, SOAP Web Services, dbExpress, BizSnap, WebSnap, DataSnap
DELPHI 7 (2002)
Web application development, Windows XP themes
DELPHI 8 (2003)
.NET support
DELPHI 2005 (2004)
Multi-unit namespaces, Error Insight, History Tab, for..in, Funtioninlining, Theme-enabled IDE, Refactorings, Wild-card in uses statement, Data Explorer, Integrated Unit Testing
DELPHI 2006 (2005)
Operator overloading, Static methods and properties, Designer Guidelines, Form positioner view, Live code templates, Block Completion, Line numbers, Change bars, Sync-edit, Code Folding and method navigation, Debugging Tool-Tips, Searchable Tool Palette, FastMM memory manager, Support for MySQL, Unicode support in dbExpress, TTrayIcon, TFlowPanel, TGridPanel
DELPHI 2007 (2006)
MS Build, Build Events, Build Configurations, Windows Vista support – glassing, theming, dbExpress 4 -connection pooling, delegate drivers, CPU viewer windows, FastCode enhancements, IntraWeb/AJAX support, Welcome Page, Sim-ship of English, French, German, Japanese
DELPHI 2009 (2008)
Unicode, Generics, Anonymous Methods, Ribbon Controls, DataSnap, Build Configurations, Class Explorer, Type Library Editor Window, PNG support
DELPHI 2010 (2009)
Attributes, Enhanced RTTI, Direct2D canvas, Windows 7 support, Touch/Gestures, Source Code Formatter, Thread Specific Breakpoints, Debugger Visualizers, IOUtils unit for files, paths and directories, Source Code Audits and Metrics, Background Compilation, Source code for MIDAS.DLL
DELPHI XE (2010)
Regular Expression Library, Subversion Integration, dbExpress – Filters, Authentication, ProxyGeneration, JavaScript Framework, REST support, Indy WebBroker, Cloud – Amazon EC2, Microsoft Azur, Build Groups, Named Threads in the Debugger, Command Line Audits, Metrics and Documentation Generation
DELPHI XE2 (2011)
64-Bit Windows, Mac OSX, FireMonkey, Live Bindings – FireMonkey and VCL, VCL Styles, Unit Scope Names, Platform Assistant, DataSnap – Connectors for Mobile Devices, Cloud API, HTTS support, TCP monitoring, dbExpress support for ODBC drivers, Deployment Manager
DELPHI XE3 (2012)
Metropolis UI for Windows 8, 7, Vista and XP, FM actions, touch/gestures, layouts and anchors, FM support for bitmap styles, TMaterial source for FM 3D components, FM audio/video, VCL/FM support for sensor devices, FM Location sensor component, Virtual keyboard support, DirectX 10 support
DELPHI XE4 (APRIL 2013)
iOS support – device, simulator, iOS app store, iOS support for standard and retina displays, iOS styles, retina styles, virtual keyboards, Mobile form designer, TWebBrowser component, iOS ARC (automatic reference counting) for all TObject classes, Platform Services, Notifications, Location, Motion and Orientation sensor components, TListView component, Mac OSX full screen support, Deployment manager for iOS devices, FireDAC universal data access components, InterBase – IBLite and IBToGo
DELPHI XE5 (SEPTEMBER)
Android support – devices and emulator. OS versions: Jelly Bean, Ice cream Sandwich, and Gingerbread, Notification component, iOS 7 style support, Configurable form designer for mobile devices, Deployment manager for Android devices, REST Services client access and authentication components, Android support for all of the XE4 FM and database features listed above
DELPHI XE6 (APRIL 2014)
Windows 7 and 8.1 styles, Access to Cloud base RESTful WEB Services, FireDAC Compatible with more databases, Fully Integrated InterBase support
DELPHI XE7 (SEPTEMBER 2014)
FireMonkey Multi-Device Applications Support Both Desktop and Mobile Platforms, IBLite embeddable database for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS, Muti-Display support, Multi-Touch Support and Gestures Changes, Full-Screen Immersive Mode for Android, FireMonkey Supports the Pull-to-Refresh Feature for TListView on iOS and Android, FireMonkey Save State Feature
DELPHI XE8 (APRIL 2015)
GetIt Package Manager, FireDAC Improvements, New Embarcadero Community Toolbar, Native Presentation of TListView, TSwitch, TMemo, TCalendar, TMultiView, and TEdit on iOS, Interactive Maps, New Options for Media Library, InputQuery now Supports Masking Input Fields
DELPHI 10 ‘SEATTLE’ (AUGUST 2015)
Android Background Services Support, FireDAC support for the NoSQL MongoDB database, FireMonkey controls zOrder support for Windows, New TBeaconDevice class for turning a device on one of the supported platforms into a “beacon”, StyleViewer for Windows 10 Style in Bitmap Style Designer, High-DPI Awareness and 4K monitors support, Windows 10 styles, Support for Android Services in the IDE, Support for calling WinRT APIs
DELPHI 10.1 ‘BERLIN’ (APRIL 2016)
Android 6.0 Support, Windows Desktop Bridge Support, Address Book for iOS and Android, New ListView Item Designer, New CalendarView control, QuickEdits for VCL, High DPI Suport on Windows, Hint Property Changes, EMS Apache Server Support, GetIt based Web installer
DELPHI 10.2 ‘TOKYO’ (MARCH 2017)
64-bit Linux support for Delphi, FireDAC provides Linux support for all Linux-capable DBMS, MariaDB support (v5.5), MySQL support for v5.7 and Firebird support for Direct I/O, QuickEdits for FMX, New VCL Controls for Windows 10, Updated IDE Look & Feel (Dark Theme), RAD Server Deployment License Included
DELPHI 10.3 ‘RIO’ (NOVEMBER 2018)
C++ 17 for Win32, New Delphi Language Features, FireMonkey Android zOrder, Native Controls and API Level 26, Windows 10, VCL, and HighDPI improvements, Extensive IDE UI modernization, RAD Server architecture extension, Quality and Performance improvements
DELPHI10.3.1 ‘RIO’ (FEBRUARY 2019)
Expanded support for iOS 12 and iPhone X series devices. RAD Server Console UI redesign and migration to the Ext JS framework (available via GetIt). Improved FireDAC support for Firebird 3.0.4 and FireBird embedded. HTTP and SOAP Client Library Enhancements on Windows. Two new IDE productivity tools: Bookmarks and Navigator. 15 new custom VCL Windows and Multi-Device FireMonkey styles
DELPHI 10.3.2 ‘RIO’ (JULY 2019)
Delphi macOS 64-bit, C++17 for Windows 64-bit, C++ LSP Code Insight Improvements, RAD Server Wizards and Deployment Improvements, Enhanced Firebase Android Support, Delphi Linux Client Application Support
DELPHI 10.3.3 ‘RIO’ (NOVEMBER 2019)
Delphi Android 64-bit support, iOS 13 and macOS Catalina (Delphi) Support, RAD Server Docker Deployment, Enterprise Connectors in Enterprise & Architect Edition
DELPHI 10.4 ‘SYDNEY’ (MAY 2020)
Significantly enhanced high-performance native Windows support, increased productivity with blazing fast code completion, faster code with managed records and enhanced parallel tasks on modern multi-core CPUs, over 1000 quality and performance enhancements, and much more
DELPHI 10.4.1 ‘SYDNEY’ (SEPTEMBER 2020)
RAD Studio 10.4.1 has a strong focus on quality improvements to the IDE, Delphi Core Insight (LSP), Parallel Library, SOAP & XML, C++ Toolchain, FireMonkey, VCL, Delphi Compiler, and iOS Deployment
Final thoughts:
Delphi has grown widely over the years and flourishing as across platform technology. Complex features are being designed in just a jiff and a must say that it’s so much developer friendly.
“Delphi truly is an inexhaustible source of innovation, and a blog post cannot possibly hope to do it justice.”
References:
https://delphi.embarcadero.com/