Delphi is a software development environment for Microsoft Windows applications. It has always supported development of native Windows applications in the Delphi programming language, a further development of Object Pascal.

Delphi 2007, the eleventh version, also supports development in C++ for the 32 bit Microsoft Windows platform, and in Delphi and C# for the Microsoft .NET platform. Delphi 2009, the twelfth and latest version released in August 2008, adds support for Unicode to the VCL and IDE as well as new compiler features (Generics and Anonymous methods) and enhances the IDE with the first version of a resource manager and overhauled project manager as well as user definable build configurations.

Delphi is mainly used for the development of desktop and enterprise database applications, but it is a general-purpose software development tool suitable for most software projects. Web applications are also possible due to the inclusion of several libraries.

Delphi is distributed in various versions with different features and prices: Personal (currently not available), Professional, Enterprise (formerly Client/Server) and Architect.

Borland Kylix is a now discontinued equivalent to Delphi for the Linux platform.


See also: Delphi Prism, Free Pascal, Lazarus


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