Dimensional Data

While many believe that programmers or coders interact directly with computers or machines through code, it isn’t entirely true. Computers understand what we refer to as machine language- a set of instructions in binary combinations, the zero’s and ones. On the other hand, we code in one high-level language or another. Therefore, to get the computer to execute our written instructions, our program code, we must pass the source code through a machine language translator, i.e., a compiler. The Windows compiler actions (indeed not just Windows compilers) consist of multiple stages, summarized into; running the pre-processor followed by the compilation phase, the Assembling phase, and the linking phase.  In 1952, Grace Hopper developed the first-ever compiler to convert the A-O programming language to machine language. Since then, we’ve had more high-level languages and even more compilers. Whether you’re looking to get started with a new programming language or you want to build your next application in languages like C++, the anatomy of a great Windows compiler is the best place to start. In this article, we’ll discuss the features of a great compiler.  Why is Fast Compilation Essential? For starters, asides from a perfectly working code, nothing makes a developer happier than productivity. And one major development concern over the years has been compiling a lot of code fast. Many compilers in the market today brag about their compilation speed but offer very little in the end. Practically any decent compiler can compile a few lines of code relatively fast, but when it comes to those large projects with millions of lines of code, the reverse is the case.  Generally, two factors dictate compilation speed; Code size; the larger your code, the longer it takes. Level of toolchain optimization refers to your complete set of tools, including your compiler. The first factor and part 1 of the second factor are kind of obvious. Let’s talk about the second factor part b- compiler optimization. A great Windows compiler optimizes or improves the code to make it require less resources to compile, therefore speeding up compilation. A popular compiler known for its fast compilation is the Delphi compiler. According to its Wikipedia page, “Delphi is known for its fast compilation speed, native code, and developer productivity.”   Why Does Small Executable Size Matter? There are numerous unnecessarily bloated applications out there that many just assume are the norm and have to use larger hard disks. Not to mention the increase in end-user requirement tied to this bloat. In a world where efficiency is the name of the game, you can’t afford to compile large executables and then seek new techniques to reduce its size. In this case, a great Windows compiler should produce small executable sizes, just like Delphi. Should a Windows Compiler Support Automation? Automation is taking the world by storm. While the Covid-19 pandemic is credited with accelerating automation trends, this technology was slowly becoming dominant way before the pandemic. Today, automation plays a vital role in increasing developer productivity and efficiency and reducing project completion time. Most programmers today want to automate any process that they have to repeat. Therefore, it is only expected that a great compiler supports automation. Again, our case study for this article, Delphi, supports automation. Why is Good Error Reporting/Handling Essential? Error reporting and handling […]

Bill Clinton was President, Windows 3.1 was king, and CompuServe was still a thing. The R&D team at Borland Software Corporation which included Anders Hejlsberg, Gary Whizin, Chuck Jazdzewski, Dave Scofield, Allen Bauer, Hank Cox, Marc Cousineau, and Ray Kaestner released Delphi and changed the software development world forever. In 1995 Delphi was lauded as the next generation Windows development tool, combining the most intuitive visual design environment with the unrivaled performance of a world-class optimizing native code compiler. “Delphi” started out as a beta codename for a closely guarded skunkworks project at Borland: a next-generation visual development environment for Windows based on Borland’s Object Pascal programming language. ” – Danny Thorpe Fast forward 27 years and Delphi is still building the future with support for many more platforms than just Windows including Android, iOS, macOS, Linux, and HTML5*. Powerful integrations via the broader developer ecosystem with C++, Python, C#, Java, Lua, and cloud solutions such as Amazon Web Services and Azure. Check out hundreds of different projects in the Showcase featuring Delphi projects reaching hundreds of millions of users. Not on the latest version of Delphi? Check out all of the latest features in Delphi 11 including High-DPI and 4k+ screens, provisioning for Windows 11, Android 30 API and the macOS 64-bit ARM M1 processor. Single Code BaseCreate apps for all major platforms with less coding effort. Write once, compile everywhere. Windows 11Modernize VCL apps for Windows 11 with up-to-date user interface controls, WinRT APIs, and HighDPI-related features Remote DesktopCollaborate more effectively with remote teams using improved remote desktop support for VCL and IDE High DPI & 4KHigh-DPI support in the IDE, with full support for the latest 4k+ monitors, and cleaner and sharper fonts and icons throughout. Improved FMX High-DPI support for Windows and Desktop with a visibly superior desktop UI iOS and macOSmacOS 64bit ARM compiler and toolchain that can build universal binaries including Intel/ARM versions for AppStore submissions AndroidSupport for the latest Android 30 API and latest Billing APIs, and migration to use the AndroidX libraries. Android support for multiple classes.dex files, simplifying integration of external Android dependencies RAD ServerReduces the complexities of rapidly building and deploying a multi-tier turn-key enterprise REST API application server with Swagger support. Accessible DataConnect to over 20 databases natively with FireDAC’s high speed direct access, including InterBase, SQLite, MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, DB2, SQL Anywhere, Advantage DB, Firebird, Access, Informix, MongoDB and more Faster CodingSmarter code navigation when refactoring. Auto code completion with Tab key. LSP awareness of Include files. Auto restart of LSP server. Class helper support. Array suggestions when assigning arrays ProductivityVCL Styles with design-time support: Prototype stylish UIs even faster by seeing immediately at design-time how your styled forms and controls will look when running. LinuxDevelop both server and FireMonkey GUI applications for Linux Cloud AwareDelphi has an HTTP and REST client library available on all platforms, to invoke REST services and even specific AWS and Azure components ExtensionsDevelop and expand the IDE with your own components and IDE plugins, or find ready to use add-ons from our rich third-party ecosystem User ExperienceCompletely rebuilt Welcome Page with a native look and feel, and a UI that fits the IDE, and customizable layout and content Join us for the 27th Anniversary webinar!     *HTML5 support provided […]

If you are serious about Windows app development you should really should know these five superb tools which can help you get the absolute best out of your great ideas.  How can Delphi 11 Alexandria make Windows app development faster and easier? Delphi 11 Alexandria is the latest version of the Delphi IDE and provides native app development 5x faster compared to other development tools. Moreover, your apps built with Delphi can be both specific to only Windows itself or multi-platform. You can easily modernize apps to support Windows 11 with up-to-date responsive controls, styles, and Windows Store support. High DPI & 4K iOS and macOS Windows and Linux Android and IoT Cloud Aware Enterprise Grade Database Access Create GUI Apps 5x Faster Create Services Based Systems with RAD Server Have you tried C++ Builder? C++ Builder – Design beautiful, intuitive user interfaces with award-winning and cross-platform frameworks on Windows and iOS. Provide a platform-native experience to your users while designing the interfaces only once, cutting development time by half or more. Modern C++ 17 – Featuring a Clang-enhanced compiler, Dinkumware STL, easy access to Boost, and many more. Cloud Aware Tools – Extensive HTTP and a REST client library and even specific AWS and Azure components Rapid Development – Award-winning visual design to help you to create native cross-platform and responsive user interfaces Do you need to edit HUGE files in an editor which opens in seconds and doesn’t lag? Our third tool is one of the market-leading text editors with the most flexible, powerful, and secure text editor out there called UltraEdit. Dynamic code auto-completion with IntelliTips UltraEdit provides code-aware and context-aware auto-complete suggestions. See class members, function tips, and more for most modern programming languages…and configure as much or as little to suit your needs. Best of all – it just works, out of the box. No risky third-party plugins or esoteric config editing is required.   Multi-caret/multi-select UltraEdit features the most powerful and intuitive multi-caret editing and multi-selection capabilities in the business. Once your cursors or selections are where you want them to be, you can copy, cut, paste, select and delete just the same as you normally would. Column mode When editing horizontally just isn’t quite good enough, Column Mode is there for you. Use Column Mode to intuitively edit along the Y-axis anywhere in your document. It’s just one of the many powerful ways UltraEdit helps you edit tabular data or code files. Developer / programmer Unsurpassed power, performance, startup, & file load Customizable, configurable, beautiful themes OS integration (command line, shell extension) Blazing fast find / replace and find in files / replace in files Fully integrated file compare, instant diff operations Secure, trusted, proven, dependable, stable Digitally signed installers and libraries Easy/silent deployment with MSI installers Professional support and in-house call center Multi-platform: Windows, Mac, and Linux Check out the official web page to learn more about UltraEdit. Did you know you can get a totally free C++ IDE? Embarcadero Dev-C++ is a new and improved fork of Bloodshed Dev-C++ and Orwell Dev-C++. It is a full-featured Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and code editor for the C/C++ programming language.   It uses the Mingw port of GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) as its compiler. Embarcadero Dev-C++ can also be used in combination with Cygwin […]

Reading is an essential skill for Windows application development. Development is a nebulous and constantly expanding subject and I’ve noticed that the most successful coders, project managers and designers are often readers with a voracious appetite for consuming books on everything they possibly can to keep feeding a hunger for knowledge. Unlike a waistline, expanding your mind is rarely seen as a negative attribute and over-indulging produces nothing but good results! Learning a new programming language can be a hard task, but if you get hold of a good book, spend time, and have the commitment, then learning becomes easier and delightful. Practice and self-tuition is important but books and videos help use the benefits of other’s experiences to enrich our own without the pain of getting it wrong and spending years acquiring the knowledge. Technology is in constant growth and could be considered a fast-paced competitive market. Every day new frameworks and tools are created, and it is easy to get lost in the sea of new information. Because of this speed, many rely on quick tutorials which lead from point A to point B without figuring out the way yourself. That is why it is essential to read coding books that explain every single detail that helps to build a true foundation. Windows operating system has been dominating the desktop software world and with the new version of Windows 11 with an elegant user interface, we are seeing new Windows 10 and 11 supported applications in the Microsoft Store. If you would like to find out which books and resources would help you to start your Windows desktop app development career, keep on reading! You will find the best 6 books about IDE tools for Windows 10 and even you can you these tools to create native and cross-platform applications. 1. Object Pascal Handbook for Delphi.4 (The New Edition) The Object Pascal Handbook for Delphi 10.4 is the complete guide to the programming language of Delphi. Why Delphi? Because with Delphi you can create cross-platform native applications easily and the programming language syntax is also suitable for everyone, it is like writing a poem in English. If you would like to know more about why you need to choose Delphi, check out these articles now! If you would like to know more about why you need to choose Delphi, check out these articles now! This book is written by Marco Cantu, who is well known Delphi guru and author of dozens of Delphi books, and he is one of the Product Managers for RAD Studio at Embarcadero Technologies where Delphi is evolving. With this book, you can get all the foundations of the language and give you a full idea about the Delphi programming language which you will utilize to create native Windows applications. Link: https://www.marcocantu.com/objectpascalhandbook/ 2. Coding in Delphi Coding in Delphi is a programming book by Nick Hodges that covers a variety of powerful Delphi programming features and techniques including: Generics Interfaces Exception handling Anonymous methods Collections RTTI Enumerations Attributes Dependency Injection Unit Testing By learning these features of the programming language, you can write efficient code and make things faster and more reliable. Moreover, these technologies help you grow as an engineer. Link: https://leanpub.com/codingindelphi 3. Expert Delphi: Robust and fast cross-platform application development This book […]

The 14th of February is just around the corner, and while for many that means chocolates and flowers, we know the true meaning: Delphi’s birthday! The theme of Delphi’s 27th anniversary is Building the Future! It is always great to tell the story of how you discovered Delphi, but let’s look to the future. How do you see Delphi making the world a better place? What Delphi related technologies continue to change the way you program? We are hosting a webinar with Kyle Wheeler, Marco Cantu, David Millington, and Ian Barker, where we share the ways Delphi continues to shape the future of software development. The free webinar is Feb 14, 2022 10:00 AM CST. I’ll be sure to review the comments on this post before the webinar, so if you have a story, demo, library, tip, etc. that you would like featured, please leave it as a comment here. Then join the webinar and our live Q&A. We will see you online!

1995 is a very important year in the history of Delphi. On February 14 of that year the first version of Delphi was released for 16-bit Windows 3.1 as a Rapid Application Development (RAD) tool.  Delphi came as a departure from its predecessor, Borland’s Turbo Pascal for Windows. Turbo Pascal combined an editor, debugger, compiler, linker, and libraries, and evolved into Object Pascal after support for objects was added. Delphi / Object Pascal created a foundation for app development that still inspires and supports application developers today.         Henceforth Thou Shalt Be Known as “Delphi” Where did the Delphi name come from? The accepted story is that the Delphi name was originally suggested by then Borland developer Danny Thorpe as a reference to the Greek fortune-telling temple of the same name. One of the goals behind Delphi was to provide database connectivity to developers, and because Oracle was one of the more popular database products of the time, the reasoning was that “if you want to talk to the Oracle, you have to go to Delphi”.               It just happened, however, that Borland was preparing to release the product as Borland AppBuilder, but when Novell AppBuilder was released shortly before Borland’s own release date, the company moved forward with the amazing iconic name of Delphi. The rest, as they say, is history. The first version of Delphi came with a Visual Component Library (VCL), visual two-way tools, a Runtime Library (RTL), data-aware components live at design time, a Property Method Event (PME) model, structured exception handling, and Database support via BDE and SQL Links.             Where Was The World in 1995? What kind of year was 1995? Do you remember where you were in your life that year? I for one was halfway through architecture school. Here are some of the highlights: After landing in Saskatchewan, Canada, Steve Fosset became the first person to fly solo in a hot air balloon across the Pacific. The Schengen Agreement went into effect for the first time, and more than 170 countries agreed to extend the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Meanwhile, a lot was happening in space, too. Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov completed a record 366 days in space, while Bernard A. Harris Jr. became the first African American and Michael Foale became the first Briton to walk in space. In December, NASA’s unmanned probe Galileo captured the world’s imagination with pictures as it entered the atmosphere of Jupiter.               Entertainment Hollywood was busy as always, and the year saw the release of Kevin Costner’s Waterworld, David Fincher’s crime thriller Seven, with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, and Toy Story, the first-ever full-length computer animated film.  Other high-profile movie releases included Batman Forever, and the James Bond thriller Goldeneye. Forrest Gump won the Oscar for best film. Alanis Morissette released Jagged Little Pill, Shaggy released Boombastic, and rapper Coolio released Gangsta’s Paradise. Browsers, Games and The Internet Microsoft released Windows 95, Visual Studio 4.0, and Internet Explorer 1 and 2. Interestingly, the first version of the Opera browser was also released in the same year, as was Netscape Navigator 2.0.               HTML was also at version 2.0, and […]

Developer environment tools improve the speed and quality of coding with features like auto-completion, debugging, and emulation. They influence factors like development time, and the need (or lack thereof) to make future updates and bug fixes. RAD Studio, for example, comes with code insight, an advanced debugger, code formatting, refactoring assistance, and keystroke macros. When businesses choose a software framework they begin a long-term relationship for the duration of their application’s lifecycle. Given the strategic consequences of this decision, businesses must carefully consider how frameworks enhance developer productivity, business functionality,application flexibility, product performance, the long-term viability of that framework, and the inherent security in each framework’s design and technology. The ideal framework demonstrates strength in each category by minimizing product time-to-market, reducing maintenance costs, supporting product variety, and facilitating a superior customer experience. The “Discovering The Best Cross-Platform Framework Through Benchmarking” whitepaper evaluates two frameworks supporting multi-platform desktop application development: Delphi and Electron. This is the third in a series of blog posts looking more closely at each of the 26 individual metrics used in the study, and how Delphi and Electron each fared on these metrics. The first can be found here. Download the complete whitepaper here Benchmark Category: Developer Productivity Developer productivity is the measure of effort and code required for developers to complete typical development tasks. Productivity directly impacts product time-to-market and long-term labor costs so tools that increase developer productivity have substantial impacts on business timelines and bottom lines. Productivity can be realized in two distinct ways – reduced coding requirements due to native libraries, and IDE tools like code-completion and visual design.IDEs with greater library breadth generally result in fewer lines of code per application and produce a clean, lean codebase that minimizes opportunities for bugs or maintenance problems later in the product life cycle. Benchmark Metric 3/26: Developer Environment Tools Developer Environment Tools: Does the framework IDE standard installation include auto-completion, debugging, and emulation tools? Are multiple IDEs available for the framework? Frameworks with multiple development tools and a choice of IDE better support individual development preferences, techniques, and requirements. Benchmarking Results Delphi Score: 4 (out of 5) Delphi’s IDE, RAD Studio, offers a plethora of developer tools including Code Insight (suggestions, completion, etc.), advanced debugger, code formatting, refactoring assistance, keystroke macros, and integration with common software version control systems. RAD Studio provides an Android emulator feature and can tie into an iOS simulator on a macOS machine. RAD Studio is the only IDE available for Delphi and the only method of compiling Delphi projects, however, both the code and UI definitions can be edited using standard text editors. Electron Score: 4 (out of 5) Electron applications can be written in code editors such as Visual Studio, Atom, and WebStorm as well as full IDEs. All offer robust features and tools to enhance developer productivity. Electron must be compiled, run, and packaged using the command line – integration with Visual Studio Code hasn’t been completed. Third party solutions may be available. Download the complete whitepaper here