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Delphi in the Age of AI
- evrennetwork 1y ago[dead]
- snapcaster 1y agoIn the age of AI, i'm never using obscure languages again because AI isn't as good with them
- nolok 1y agoObject pascal is many things, obscure it is not
- StableAlkyne 1y agoProbably depends on your specific company or industry Personally I've never seen anyone use Pascal as anything other than the butt of a joke or a background slide on "how far we've come" since the 80s. Nobody even seems to remember object Pascal. ... But I'm also in a sector that routinely relies on Fortran code so ymmv
- pjmlp 1y agoEver heard of Mac OS and a company called Apple?
- maleldil 1y agoIs Pascal still used on macOS today? Pascal/Delphi was relevant 20 years ago, but it isn't anymore.
- pjmlp 1y agoOf course not, because that wasn't what I wrote. I wrote Mac OS, which was replaced by OS X. macOS is a rebranding from OS X. Delphi is pretty much relevant in Germany, to this day there are conferences to attend to. You can still get tickets for this year, https://entwickler-konferenz.de/en/ https://entwickler-konferenz.de/en/
- ndiddy 1y agoIt lasted for a few years as a first-class supported language, but by the early 90s they shifted most of their focus to C++ so the system API being in Pascal became more of a legacy annoyance than anything. You got to deal with Str255 types, putting "\p" at the start of all your string literals, remembering the rules for when to pass by reference or pass by value when you call toolbox functions, etc.
- pjmlp 1y agoThe fact is that without Object Pascal, there would not exist employees to work on MPW at all, or even Apple most likely. Maybe in some alternative universe they would have been just as successful using BCPL, but the fact C and C++ were ignored at Apple until some employees came up with MPW as side project until it was too late to turn back, speaks volumes about Apple culture. Just as it does the way A/UX was originally designed.
- ndiddy 1y agoApple officially supported C for Macintosh application development even back when they were still making devs do all their work on Lisas (see http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/apple/lisa/workshop_3.0/Lisa_Workshop_C_Users_Guide_1985.pdf http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/apple/lisa/workshop_3.0/Lisa_Wo...), but you're right that they were a majority Pascal shop until they shifted to C++ around when System 7 came out.
- pjmlp 1y agoIt did, as userspace tooling for customers, the system was written in a mix of Assembly and Clascal, Object Pascal predecessor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clascal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clascal
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- baranul 1y agoPeople were not laughing at Turbo Pascal or Delphi when they came out, and they dominated for many years. Delphi/Object Pascal is still taught in the schools of many countries. There are people who want everyone to forget Delphi/Object Pascal and they wish it was dead. But what they wish for and reality are two different things. Delphi still makes money, otherwise they wouldn't sell it.
- massung 1y agoBy that logic, if modern LLMs existed in the 80s, you’d have never learned Haskell, Ocaml, Rust, Go, Erlang, … and all the cool concepts and ideas that came with them. You’d still be programming Basic and Fortran, simply because that’s all the models knew. AI may be helpful at times, but to limit one’s self to only the knowledge and experience they have is… short sighted at best.
- coliveira 1y agoUnfortunately this is what AI is leading to. People will stop learning new languages and companies will stop developing new ones because AI is now supposed to write code.
- pjmlp 1y agoI agree, I envison that we will reach a state where the tooling will be generating executables directly. As next step of low code/no code tooling, the agent will do the actions for us. We are already seeing this on SaaS offerings.
- 3036e4 1y agoI tried to make some LLMs write (GW-)BASIC and they failed miserably. Maybe they were only trained on some modern BASIC that doesn't look like BASIC at all? Could not convince them to use line numbers at all. Maybe with a lot of context they could do it, but my prompts did not work, even making I clear I wanted line numbers. (Free)Pascal seems to work great though. I think enough of that is in training data that it can be used as well as any language. There isn't much special to consider to get it right. It is not like figuring out how to do Rust or C++.
- add-sub-mul-div 1y agoPeople wanting shortcuts and to do less work/thinking is about to become the major force in society over the next generation.
- azinman2 1y ago
- johnisgood 1y agoFeed it documentation and example code and given sufficient data of these, it will do just fine with obscure languages. I have tried it with programming languages as obscure as Odin, for example, and it worked nicely. It is way more awful writing Forth, for one. YMMV.
- werdnapk 1y agoReinforces the A in AI... "artificial" intelligence. Actual intelligence could pick up a new language no problem.
- yndoendo 1y agoProgramming languages are tools in a toolbox. Use the proper tool for the job instead of always picking up the hammer. It takes time to train and use a new tool. That applies to LLM and humans. Would you use the same drill to hang drywall and core through a concrete floor?
- 1899-12-30 1y agoDelphi sucks, I don't recommend anybody use it when you could just use c#.
- nolok 1y agoI hardly disagree with the first part of your statement, but the second half it should be noted that Microsoft hired the designer in chief of the delphi language at the time to design c#
- andsoitis 1y ago> Microsoft hired the designer in chief of the delphi language at the time to design c# ... and Anders Hejlsberg continues to be the lead architect of C# and is also core developer of TypeScript!
- pjmlp 1y agoC# lead architect is Mads Torgersen. Anders Hejlsberg nowadays only has a consulting role.
- pjmlp 1y agoActually he went to Microsoft based on referrals from ex-Borland working at Microsoft. From his own words, https://behindthetech.libsynpro.com/001-anders-hejlsberg-a-craftsman-of-computer-language https://behindthetech.libsynpro.com/001-anders-hejlsberg-a-c...
- lo_zamoyski 1y agoSome make the case that making basic UIs has actually regressed since Delphi/Visual Basic.
- ACCount37 1y ago"Make basic UIs easily" is a major appeal of C# workflows in the usual CRUD-type development.
- gerardatkonvo 1y agoAs much as I love Object Pascal (it was my first programing language) it has no reason to exist in 2025 other than legacy applications and small RAD windows programs.
- andsoitis 1y ago> and small RAD windows programs. You can also use Delphi to produce Android, iOS, macOS, and Linux apps. All from single code base.
- 3036e4 1y agoFreePascal, that I believe is supposed to be reasonably Delphi compatible, supports "Intel x86 (16 and 32 bit), AMD64/x86-64, PowerPC, PowerPC64, SPARC, SPARC64, ARM, AArch64, MIPS, Motorola 68k, AVR, and the JVM. Supported operating systems include Windows (16/32/64 bit, CE, and native NT), Linux, Mac OS X/iOS/iPhoneSimulator/Darwin, FreeBSD and other BSD flavors, DOS (16 bit, or 32 bit DPMI), OS/2, AIX, Android, Haiku, Nintendo GBA/DS/Wii, AmigaOS, MorphOS, AROS, Atari TOS, and various embedded platforms. Additionally, support for RISC-V (32/64), Xtensa, and Z80 architectures, and for the LLVM compiler infrastructure is available in the development version. Additionally, the Free Pascal team maintains a transpiler for pascal to Javascript called pas2js." https://www.freepascal.org/ https://www.freepascal.org/ You do not get that much portability with many other languages. C, perhaps. But FreePascal has a bigger standard library and many other libraries that support many platforms. It is also a much safer language with checked array bounds and while there is support for low level unsafe things you do not have to use those nearly as often as in C. And while the compiler might not be as fast as Turbo Pascal (or Delphi?) it is still amazingly fast compared to any other compiler I have used this century. What's not to like? Guess the lack of attention from developers and potential risk of there not being enough around to maintain it? I honestly do not know, but you do not hear much about it and not many projects seem to use it.
- andsoitis 1y agoI’ve tried Lazarus a few times (on macOS), but I’ve found Delphi to be significantly more polished and reliable (including the more complex workflow of developing on Windows and running the resulting binary on macOS or in the iOS simulator — it just works). I did consider becoming a contributor to make Lazarus better, so maybe something I should revisit. The first thing I’d do is make sure Lazarus works perfectly on Windows, macOS, and Linux. For the other platforms, fpc excellence is fine, but they’re not important enough, I think, for Lazarus. One counter argument might be certain embedded applications but I suspect that would not be the right prioritization…
- siva7 1y agoDelphi -> C# -> Typescript. This is the evolution. It has never been easier to make apps just by using a browser that runs on all platforms.
- haolez 1y agoAs a former Delphi developer, this is very far from truth, in my experience. Nothing modern beats the ease of RAD with Delphi, where you had actually business people making complex software (with a huge amount of tech debt, of course). I'm not saying it's better - Delphi sucks for a lot of reasons - but this is the only aspect where it really shines.
- ndiddy 1y agoHave you tried WinForms? It’s a similar workflow to Delphi except I find C# a lot nicer to work with than Pascal. WPF is also good if you need a program that’s more flexible with being resized, but you have to do your layout in XML rather than drag and drop (although you do still get live updates of what your window will look like while you’re writing the XML).
- azinman2 1y agoThe drag and drop is what makes it good. Interface builder had that on macOS; that’s basically dead now. I feel like Visual Basic had that too? I don’t know if that still exists.
- frou_dh 1y ago"Dead" is a bit strong, no? More like de-emphasised for newcomers, and in maintenance mode?
- pkphilip 1y agoI am not sure WinForms is as flexible as Delphi - especially when you need to write your own components with their own property sheet dialogs etc. Also, Delphi apps can be made to run on Linux, Mac and even Android and IOS.
- sdsd 1y agoWhen I converted to Mormonism last year, I met an older missionary couple and bonded with the husband over our love for programming. He's a Delphi developer who supports legacy applications. He's had a lot of trouble finding work, but doesn't feel equipped to learn any modern stack. I think his wife is selling clothes online to support themselves.
- mickeyp 1y agoYes, that sounds like a Delphi developer alright. I worked with Delphi personally and professionally for many, many years. You were at the precipice of unemployment in the 2000s if you used it then. To do it now? You're like a looney toons character suspended in mid-air. There's Delphi work around, to be sure, but you're competing against people with 30 years of commercial experience building -- or rather just keeping them limping along -- today, and they are as desperate as the Powerbuilder, Oracle Forms, FoxPro and Lotus Domino folk in scratching out an income in a stagnant pool. Delphi died an ignominious death a long time ago, and it is truly sad. I miss it; frontend development today is a joke compared to what we could do with Delphi. But so what? It's dead. And it's not coming back.
- baranul 1y agoLast time checked, Delphi (Object Pascal) is ranked #10 on the TIOBE index (August 2025). People get all hot and bothered by Rust and others, yet they are still way behind on the charts. Yeah, Delphi is not in the top 5, but is clearly very far from dead. Especially in comparison to the untold number of languages and companies out there.
- mickeyp 1y agoCare to show me a job board bursting at the seams with Delphi jobs?
- baranul 1y agoDelphi/Object Pascal is taught in many places around the world and its usage depends on the country. Because Delphi/Object Pascal is not so popular in your or a specific country, does not mean its not more popular somewhere else. More people and companies use Delphi than many realize, that's why they are still in business. Object Pascal can also be transpiled into other languages, where people are not aware of what the original code was written in. For instance, Russia makes wide usage of PascalABC, which compiles/uses .NET. There is also Oxygene (RemObjects), that can compile to .NET too. Popularity and usage does not equate exactly to the job market. For instance Scratch is more popular and widely used than Rust, because of its reach with the young and schools. And, many jobs can ask for programming skills, like knowing Python (which boosts its ranking). But they are often asking for that language as a supplement or plus, not as the main reason why they are hiring a person.
- adinhitlore 1y agoIt's exploding, just look at my post history if you will i just asked about it yesterday that it climbed from 183 to 10th place in the tiobe index in just 5 years! It's absurd, I don't hate it but the 'oject pascal' is just too alien if you come from C, C++ or even C#/java or even PHP background. In fact I don't even know what it resembles? Is it fortran? ok, i googled it: so it's simula, I mean if we pretend object pascal = Delphi and they are very similar or the same thing, right? Is anyone using Simula in 2025? It's not an easy learning path...but I'm not against it, hope it becomes alternative to the "C"-influenced languages.
- CodeCompost 1y agoDelphi is dead. Nothing to see here. Move along.
- panki27 1y agoSome things never die. I'm pretty sure the Borland Database Engine that came with Delphi 7 ('97?) still runs on Windows 11.
- vslira 1y agoThis last week I've been receiving emails from Embarcadero (I can't recall ever registering on their site, but it's possible that I did in the quarter century I've been online) so, together with this post, I suppose management is doing some marketing push.
- simonw 1y agoPlease, please don't ever start a technical article with anything that reads like this: > Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most fascinating and rapidly-growing areas of computer science. Although still in its early stages, AI has already started to revolutionize the world we live in, with applications in everything from self-driving cars to medical diagnosis.
- tux3 1y agoCounterpoint: I'd rather find out in the first paragraph. If this whole article is going to be a fluffy slop-slathered delve, save me time.
- maest 1y agoThis page looks like AI slop. I don't understand what I'm supposed to get out of it.
- zeroc8 1y agoNobody writes Win32 desktop apps anymore. That is Delphi's main problem.
- pjmlp 1y agoYes they do, for example https://www.lab-services.nl/en/home https://www.lab-services.nl/en/home
- zeroc8 1y agoYes, of course, it's not completely dead yet. But very few new native Windows business applications are being written. That's why there are no jobs, no investment, no fresh blood. The old guard is hanging on until they can retire. But that's pretty much it. Which is a shame. Delphi to this day has been my favorite dev environment ever.
- baranul 1y agoThe world is a big place. Many people and companies do things differently. And if it was really a problem or not profitable for Delphi, they would stop. That speaks for itself.
- seif_madc 1y agoAs a programmer, and not as a company seeking profit by any means, i seek the easiest and most reliable solution for the problem in hand, and Delphi works like a charm for me, and it is very very far from dead, by the time of writing this, on the TOIBE index , Delphi is at the 10th place, Rust and Kotlin are #18 and #19 respectively, oh look, even Ada is ranked #13, so yeah,please stop saying a programming language is dead because it is old or not your favorite or simply because you don't know anything about programming languages except Javascript.
- mickeyp 1y agoUh-huh. There are zero -- sorry, nil -- Delphi jobs on jobserve in the UK. That is one of the leading job sites in the UK. Zero. There are 282 jobs with python in the job description.
- baranul 1y agoThe world is a much bigger place than only the UK. Delphi usage was and is not only about a single location. And, a Delphi/Object Pascal programmer can work remotely, know other languages too, or be a freelancer.
- pjmlp 1y agoCurrently 296 open positions in Germany, https://www.jobworld.de/Delphi-jobs https://www.jobworld.de/Delphi-jobs