Delphi 1. Appeared a little earlier than Windows 95. It was on Delphi 1.0 that the first applications for Windows (3.1) were created. The functionality of the language included and optimizing compiler, and visual development environment, and powerful tools for database processing. The Pascal language underwent a significant transformation and was reborn as Object Pascal.
Delphi 2. The next version appeared a year later and, having all the previous functionality, was suitable for 32-bit Windows (95/NT). Again, it was the first language to have a 32-bit compiler, database processing and a visualized development environment with OLE support. And Delphi 2.01 (with updates) supported ActiveX as well.
Delphi 3. This version had a more extensive toolkit, allowing the development of applications to use COM and ActiveX. It also added variant (untyped data type), and paid special attention to the possibility of writing codes for network applications.
Delphi 4. It also marked a certain significant stage in the development of the language. There were valuable improvements that simplified the functioning of applications. For example, the environment was updated, dynamic prompts appeared in it, etc. The order of work with components was improved (VCL), the use of MIDAS, DCOM, CORBA was simplified and accelerated. Object Pascal has improved in all respects, acquired the features of modern OOP, new data types have been used (and 64-bit ones too).
Delphi 5. The programmers worked so hard on Delphi 4 that, as a result, bugs started popping up one after another. They had to release three update packages (pirate versions were called Delphi 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3). But the best, complete and normally finalized version of the Delphi 4 language was Delphi 5.
Delphi 6. The appearance of the sixth version of the Delphi programming language Borland marked as the beginning of a new cross-platform era. At the same time, a version for Linux (Kylix 1.0) was released. Developers had the opportunity to specify the type of application, that is, to make it universal or only for Windows.
And now the VCL library included the CLX library, which was suitable for both Windows and Linux. That’s not all. Delphi 6 introduced its own tools for working with the Internet, not in conflict with ActiveX, and applicable to both VCL and CLX. It was after the release of this version that the Object Pascal language was officially renamed Delphi.
Delphi 7. An improved version of Delphi 6. It improved the CLX library and added a corresponding version of the development environment specifically for Linux – Kylix. Moreover, the development team has taken care of the compatibility of the new version of Delphi with Microsoft .NET. Especially for this purpose, some things have been changed in the VCL and in the language itself (and therefore in the compiler).
Delphi 8. This is the first version of Delphi, in which all attention is paid to integration with the Microsoft.NET platform. The interface of the environment has changed, the developers made it similar to all products of Microsoft, which acquired a significant share of Borland. Of course, support was stopped for Kylix.
Delphi 2005. Not a year later, the next version of the language after Delphi 8 was released. In this version, the developers provided the possibility to use the classic IDE style again to create applications for Windows. But when you need to make an application for the NET platform, using Delphi 2005 version you can use both Delphi and C#. Among the innovations – the for…in operator was added to the Delphi programming language, embedded procedures and functions were connected.
Delphi 2006. The latest version from Borland. At the same time, a lighter version called Turbo Delphi appeared.
Delphi 2007. CodeGear development. Among the new features is support for Aero interface for Windows Vista.
Delphi 2009. The author of the product is Embarcodero. Unicode support in VCL and RTL is added, calls to Windows API functions here go through Unicode analogs. In addition, the version is supplemented with generalized types and anonymous methods.
Delphi 2010. The version allows you to work with Windows 7, there is a toolkit for working with touch and gestures. And dbExpress elements received official support from Firebird.
Delphi XE (or Delphi 2011). Added the ability to use cloud computing.