Embarcadero Delphi is the complete software development solution for rapidly designing, coding, and extending “connected” apps across Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and IoT. Build industrial strength and Business ready solutions incorporating multiple native client platforms, mobile extensions, smart devices, cloud services, Enterprise and embedded data.
Customer Reviews
DAVID I.
Advanced user of DelphiDelphi is still the fastest way to build native applications for Windows, now with the possibility of multi-platform, targeting macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. After being considered dead and losing many developers migrating to C# and .NET, the Delphi ecosystem is again growing with many commercial and open-source projects.
The biggest hurdle for anyone switching or keeping Delphi is the high cost of its licenses. Embarcadero (or IDERA) is trying to compensate for the small number of customers with higher prices. That, in turn, stops many potential customers from embracing the language.
Another obstacle to adopting Delphi is the fact that there is no standard technology for developing web applications. The language provides essential tools, and there are several 3rd-party options. Still, it isn't easy to commit to the language without knowing that the chosen technology will be alive for some time in the future.
Currently, Embarcadero provides a free Community version of Delphi, which has one significant limitation; it lacks FireDAC, its universal data access technology. It is enough for learning the language and become proficient in using the IDE, but it forces the user to choose their InterBase database.
The obvious alternative is to use the free version of UniDAC from Devart, which is as powerful as FireDAC itself (when using the Enterprise version).
Consider that Delphi (Object Pascal) is a powerful but rich language, and the learning curve is steep.
I have been using Delphi for database-based client/server and n-tier applications, hardware-related applications (like Electronic Security, Video Surveillance, Access Control), huge Enterprise applications, small utilities, and several web applications. As Delphi is usually complemented with highly polished tools (not just for the user interface, but also for interfacing all kind of hardware or services), I created powerful and easy-to-use applications in almost no time. Most of the time, paying for some good components saves so much development time that the final application is cheaper and faster to market.
