What is Delphi? The Delphi Programming Language Explained

What is Delphi?

The origins of the Delphi programming language stem from an extension of the Pascal programming language, that was designed for use in the object-oriented programming arena, called Object Pascal.

In the late Eighties Borland introduced their Object Pascal extensions to Turbo Pascal for the Mac and Turbo Pascal 5.5 for DOS. Then in the mid Nineties when Borland refocused their efforts from DOS to Windows, Turbo Pascal gave way to Delphi. Delphi introduced a whole new set of extensions creating what is now known as the Delphi Programming Language.

Currently Embarcadero Delphi, known formerly as CodeGear Delphi & Borland Delphi, is an IDE for Microsoft Windows based application development.

Distinguishing features of Delphi

Delphi has pioneered an era of rapid application development by introducing crucial features that have notably decreased application prototyping times, such as:

• The Application Framework
• The visual Window Layout Designer

As previously mentioned Delphi is based on Object Pascal, and compiles Delphi source code into native x86 code. Both include the VCL (Visual Component Library), support for COM independent interfaces with reference counted class implementations, and support for a large number of third-party components.

A strong emphasis is placed on database connectivity and Delphi offers a rich database component set. The Visual Component Library (VCL) contains a large library of database aware controls, and database access components.

DT ALM and Delphi

DT ALM are not only Delphi specialists but also partners with Embarcadero. As such DT ALM provide a range of services around Delphi, from Delphi Applications Support and Development to Delphi training courses. You can also purchase Delphi licences through the DT ALM online shop. Dunstan Thomas also support other languages for legacy application support.