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Delphi

WHY DELPHI?
Delphi For Beginners:
Your guide will try to explain exactly what is Delphi and what can it do for you.

Dateline: 1999

Preparations.
First of all, I will presume that you know what computers are, what can you do with them, and finally what does programming mean, in general. It would also be great if you already have basic knowledge of programming (Pascal perhaps?).

If this is not true, you wouldn't be here anyway (am I right?). I'll be very glad if I'm not!
So sit back, relax and enjoy reading this article.

Delphi
Borland Delphi is a development tool for Microsoft Windows applications. Delphi is powerful and easy to use tool for generating stand-alone graphical user interface (GUI) programs or 32-bit console applications (programs that have no GUI presence but instead run in what is commonly referred to as a "DOS box.")

When paired with Borland Kylix, Delphi users can build single-source applications for both Windows and Linux, which opens new opportunities and increases the potential return on development investments. Use the Cross-platform CLX component library and visual designers to build high-performance portable applications for Windows that can be easily re-compiled on Linux.

Delphi is the first programming language to shatter the barrier between high-level, easy-to-use rapid application development environments and low-level bits-and-bytes power tools.

When creating GUI applications with Delphi, you have all the power of a true compiled programming language (Object Pascal) wrapped up in a RAD environment. All the common parts of the Windows graphical user interface, like forms, buttons and lists objects, are included in Delphi as components. This means that you don't have to write any code when adding them to your application. You simply draw them onto your form like in a paint program. You can also drop ActiveX controls on forms to create specialized programs such as Web browsers in a matter of minutes. Delphi allows the developer to design the entire interface visually, and quickly implement an event driven code with the click of the mouse.

Delphi ships in a variety of configurations aimed at both departmental and enterprise needs. With Delphi, you can write Windows programs more quickly and more easily than was possible ever before.

Pascal
The best way of describing Delphi is an Object Pascal-based visual development environment. Delphi's environment is based on Object Pascal, a language that is as object oriented as C++, and in some cases, better. For developers with no Pascal experience, its templates for Pascal program structures speed the process of learning the language.

The compiler produces applications packaged in compact executable files, with no need for bulky runtime libraries (DLL's)-a notable benefit, I must say.

VCL
Visual Component Library (self-contained binary piece of software that performs some specific predefined function), or VCL, is Delphi's object-oriented framework. In this rich library, you'll find classes for Windows objects such as windows, buttons, etc, and you'll also find classes for custom controls such as gauge, timer and multimedia player, along with non-visual objects such as string lists, database tables, and streams.

Databases
Delphi can access many types of databases. Using forms and reports that you create, the BDE (Borland Database Engine) can access local databases, like Paradox and DBase, network SQL server databases, like InterBase, and SysBase, and any data source accessible though ODBC (open database connectivity).

Hello World!
At the end let's see one of the smallest Delphi applications: the famous 'Hello World!' program.

This example is not for beginners - there is no main form of application or something like that. This is only a demonstration. In some of the future articles I will focus on topics like Delphi for Beginners - How to get started.

program HelloWorld;
uses dialogs;
begin
 ShowMessage('Hello World!');
end.
Hello World!
I love Delphi! Delphi is great! What are you waiting for? Go get it!

But, (always but) don't think that you can buy a program like Delphi and be a master programmer instantly. It takes a great deal of work to be a good Windows programmer. Hmm, this is exactly what we are trying to achieve here. Go get it!!

More resources for beginners

Delphi programming Knowledge Base

How To - Collection of easy, quick and step-by-step instructions on how to do just about anything in Delphi.

Discuss in my forum

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