In a move to improve code compatibility with different mobile platforms, Embarcadero Technologies has introduced a new development suite named RAD Studio XE4. The suite will come as a relief for companies that are stuck with codes written in languages like Pascal and its descendant Delphi, which are now considered outdated.
Embarcadero Technologies, which bought Delphi from Borland in 2008, states that the language is still powerful and efficient enough to compete with modern programming languages. Delphi is still in use by many organizations; for example, Medical Objects, a company that developed software presently used by around twenty thousand health care providers in Australia. Embarcadero firmly believes that the language is flexible enough to make the old code usable for a variety of applications. It’s Senior Director for Asia Pacific and Japan, Malcolm Groves, stated that Delphi has been kept more up to date than the others as is evident from features like generics and closures that it has (which Java doesn’t support yet).
RAD Studio XE4 suite was developed with the intention of solving performance and latency issues by eliminating any scripting or interpretive layers. Grover said that many companies intend to shift from Delphi to languages like .NET. This suite will allow developers to create native apps for many platforms at a time. Presently apps for iOS are written in Objective C and Android apps are written in Java. Additionally, businesses that already have code, but in Delphi, can easily port it to iOS and Android without much hassle. Even companies which have not used Delphi can port their code for iOS to Android and vice versa. There will be no throwing away of old code or necessity for extra work by re-writing it.
Earlier, those intending to convert code in Delphi for iOS and Android would develop an HTML5 app, but that has its own set of problems. Even applications for Windows and Mac are controlled by the apps which contain codes like ‘if on Mac, do this; if on Windows, do that’. Android and iOS are structurally different and have many differences in features. For example, Android has modular intents which may result in ports of iOS code failing to work. Though the demand for Delphi applications on Android or iOS is debatable, easy porting from the now-obsolete language could open a range of hitherto unexplored uses of mobile technology (like the aforementioned software by Medical Objects).
May 7, 2013 at 9:45 pm
what, exactly, makes Delphi ‘obsolete’? Is it the lack of features? Or the number of users? I use Delphi all the time and am unaware of any lack of modern features. There are more users of Java, so I guess that is what you meant.