Photo nostalgia #DelphiWeek

#DelphiWeek fun...

Today I did receive a #DelphiWeek tweet: https://twitter.com/tndelphifan/status/564466113325826048/photo/1 - marking the start of a whole week with extra much Delphi-related stuff going on – showing numerous Delphi CD's from older versions – so I thought I would just supplement the collection by adding pictures of some of the missing ones, and some more rare ones. Warning! nostalgic pictures below :-)

In case you for some reason haven’t been using or just lost track on what has been going on for the last couple of years – this week could be a good week to start looking into my favorite IDE/language and how it has evolved over the years – from a 16-bit VB killer to a 64-bit native multi-platform IDE.

"AppBuilder" early beta - dated 14-06-1994 - codenamed "Wasabi"

Field test - still called "AppBuilder" - dated 22-11-94 - codenamed "Delphi"

Delphi 1 Client/Server - 16-bit extravaganza - released 14-02-1994

Delphi 2 Client/Server - 32-bit - 2 different CD labels, why? - released 10-02-1996

Delphi 3 Client/Server - released 05-08-1997 

Delphi 4 Client/Server - also used AS/400 version - released 17-06-1998

Delphi 5 Enterprise - released 10-08-1999

Delphi 6 Enterprise - released 21-05-2001

Delphi 7 Architect - one of my favorites - released 09-08-2002

Delphi 8 Architect .Net release

Delphi 2005 Architect

Delphi 2006 Architect as part of Borland Developer Studio.

"Diamondback" Delphi 2006 Preview Release - handed out at BorCon 2004 "Meet the Team" session

Never did get a Media Kit for Delphi 2007 (which also was one of my favorites) - and was there a 2008? But above is Delphi 2009 Professional by CodeGear/Embarcadero

Delphi 2010 as part of Embarcadero RAD Studio.

After this I did stop getting physical disks - but XE-XE7 have gotten better version by version - XE7 is my current favorite :-D

And I guess you can't show Delphi CD covers, without also showing some of the Kylix spin-off :-)

"Delphi for Linux" - Kylix preview, 1, 2 and 3.

Since we are now in an age were digital distribution is the norm – the features of Delphi has accelerated – and updates are faster available.

In my opinion Delphi is still no.1 – in numerous areas – it has kept its strong points, and gained more features and platform coverage – and I have tried a few other language options – but they have either broken compatibility between versions, are designed too academic for a pragmatic programmer or does not give me as the developer the full access and power – but just gives me the constraints of a virtual environment.

The last years has been more exciting than back in the “old” days – since the number of features and platforms has increased by every version – and now with 6 months release cycles – you can tell that Embarcadero strives to make Delphi an even better product.

If you are not using the last version (XE7 at time of writing), lost track or just want to know what has been happening to your old favorite language Object Pascal, look at some of the following links:

SO post with both official links - and a nice summary (not exhaustive) of features: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8460037/list-of-delphi-language-features-and-version-in-which-they-were-introduced-depre

Embarcaderos YouTube channel also has a lot of videos showing the newer features of the product:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMmsCQhkz-WlJ-IVBzPhbgA

So do download the 30-day trial, and experience what you missed out on, if you are either on an older version or lost track years back – pursuing a new language based on “hype” :-D

Do not get me wrong – studying other languages or combining them, makes very good sense – because based on skill and task you should always use the best tool for the job – and knowledge broadens your toolbox. I almost always end up using Delphi (sometimes together with other languages) – since almost everything can be done using Delphi – which is more true than ever.

Happy #DelphiWeek 2015 :-)