Delphi and its future?

[estmmn2]

I wouldn't be surprised if apps made in Delphi are ported to .NET .
However , the Delphi IDE is still being supported by Embarcadero.com alongside other related tools so it's
not a dead platform( like VB6 is becoming).

From a programmer's POV , should one learn Delphi?
From a business's POV , is Delphi still used and are the related tools useful that a company would use them , hence a need for Delphi developers is maintained?

-Thanks for reply
And if you don't reply , I'll have to c 4 myself

 

[Digilus]

My 2c. I still use Delphi almost daily (infact just got the entire RAD Studio 2010 yesterday).

We have a lot of apps out there that were written in Delphi. Even if you say a lot of programs will move to .Net - well that is what Prism is for. You can keep your Delphi skills and write .Net code.

As for the demand out there for Delphi developers? I'd like to think there is some demand at least. I occasionally browse the job sites and see a few jobs. Though, if you don't yet know Delphi and want to start learning a language ... well C# makes a lot of economic sense (but then again every other person can churn out C# code) - if you just want to learn the basics of OOP then Delphi is a great language to start with - far less confusing than Java (IMO).

Righty .. maybe that is 5c worth now.

 

[moosag]

To answer your question you have to look at the current industry and where the market is going. The days of Windows Based applications are a thing of the past. I would say that majority of today's applications are being written for the web. Even if Windows based applications are being written, the middle layer (data layer) is always flexible enough to serve both windows apps and web based apps. With everything moving to the "Cloud" web based technologies become more important for us as developers to deliver high end software. Lets take a look at the current web based technologies available to us:

-> Microsofts .net Framework. Asp.net + MVC, Web Services, WCF, Silverlight, etc..
-> Flash
-> PHP
-> Ruby On Rails
-> Python
-> Java
-> etc..

Personally I haven't heard anything new coming out of the Delphi camps in a while regarding web based technologies. And all the above mentioned can talk to any Database and has huge resources and support globally.

From a programmer's POV , should one learn Delphi?

Just like any programming language, whichever you choose to learn its all the same essentially. My suggestion is to rather learn something "new age" as it will bring down the barrier to entry when moving into a working environment.

From a business's POV , is Delphi still used and are the related tools useful that a company would use them , hence a need for Delphi developers is maintained?

I personally think from a Business Perspective that choosing Delphi is a really bad idea. Reasons:
-> Legacy technology
-> Will end up costing more to maintain systems, due to lack of skills as it is a very old technology.
-> You will eventually hit a barrier that forces you to upgrade or port to a newer Technology.

Conclusion
Making a case for Delphi is the same as making a case for VB6. Both old, outdated and dont meet today's industry related requirements.
Delphi just does not cut the mustard for todays complex software requirements.
If you are going to write a basic application than write it in something that gives you more options for expansion in the future.

 

[Sackboy]

Learn something that won't go 'out of date'. Are there any MS products that apply: No.

Learn JAVA. There's a language that's evolving at least, despite MS's designs on copying or ruining it.

 

[rrh]

Delphi and its future ?

There are a lot of Delphi applications out there that still have to be maintained, so there is still a steady demand for programmers with Delphi skills.

The existing Delphi VCL applications will - in all probability - eventually be ported to .NET; some will be converted to C#, whilst others will be re-written in Delphi .NET.

Finally, Delphi & C# share a common father - Anders Hejlsberg - so cross-skilling from Delphi to C# is in fact simpler than moving from VB6 to C#.

 

[Gambit]

I use delphi and visual studio C# daily. Probably best to learn C# but for proper win32 applications nothing beats delphi. Way easier to learn than C++.

 

[dequadin]

@moosag

+1

I use delphi and visual studio C# daily. Probably best to learn C# but for [-]proper[/-] native win32 applications nothing beats delphi. Way easier to learn than C++.

I've heard the Win32 libraries supplied by Borland are very good.

 

[Veroland]

Learn something that won't go 'out of date'. Are there any MS products that apply: No.

Learn JAVA. There's a language that's evolving at least, despite MS's designs on copying or ruining it.

I found this on the net while doing some research on industry trends:

Judging from what we've seen in the past few years, the popularity of a web programming language relies on two things - one is ease and speed of development, and the other is how powerful an app you can build with it. Look at how fast Ruby on Rails became popular, and why. I'm not saying that it's among the most popular languages now, but it certainly has it's share of devoted followers. Then again, Java on Spring MVC is still an extremely popular choice for building enterprise web apps, and for a good reason - you can build good, thoroughly tested and robust code. So, what can we conclude from all this? A future web programming language of choice of most developers would have to satisfy these terms - allow you to build powerful apps that have robust code, yet do it with the least possible effort. And, on top of all that, allow you to provide your users with a good user experience. Personally, I'd watch out for technologies for creating RIAs, like Flex, OpenLaszlo and others. They certainly have a lot to go when it comes to developing web apps, but I can see a bright future for them.

 

[mister]

I recently moved from Delphi to C#

No regrets at all.

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

Its cheaper to maintain an existing application that to rewrite it!

No matter what language you master, there will always be a demand for it! Check at the post 70yr old-school guys that still hack COBOL code today.

 

[guest2013-1]

Oi, real programmers don't worry about which language the app is written in. If you can program, you can do it in Swahili if you're so inclined.

 

[Veroland]

Its cheaper to maintain an existing application that to rewrite it!.

Not always, sometimes the business requirements outgrows what the app was supposed to do in the beginning and eventually you have to do a rewrite to keep maintainability and keep up with requirements and competitors.

Oi, real programmers don't worry about which language the app is written in. If you can program, you can do it in Swahili if you're so inclined.

Haha, I've had to change and maintain Germen code, even the comments and variable names were in German, I was helluva tough to figure out what was going on in there.

 

[grayston]

Learn something that won't go 'out of date'. Are there any MS products that apply: No.

Learn JAVA. There's a language that's evolving at least, despite MS's designs on copying or ruining it.

Gosh! Is it 1997 again?

J++ was a long time ago, Mr Boy!