Delphi Product Manager Mike Rozlog has uploaded a "much awaited" Delphi Roadmap, officially showing that Mac and cross-platform support has been shifted to the next release and won't be in Delphi XE (see the most recent posts on this blog for info about it). You can find the roadmap at http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/39934.

Mac and 64-bit, but When?

The most significant piece of news is that the coming Delphi XE version (previously indicated with the codename Fulcrum) is not going to have Mac and cross platform support, nor the long awaited 64-bit compiler. The good news for those waiting these new features is that the rest of the roadmap (even if far from clear) won't delay them as much. The preview 64-bit compiler is still indicated with a "first half of 2011" like it was and future versions should have both 64-bit and Mac support, although from the slides it is not clear which features actually go into Pulsar ("Introduction of 64-bit and cross-platform to the RAD Studio product line"), Wheelhouse ("Extending support for 64-bit and additional platforms"), and Commodore ("Full support for 64-bit compilers for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux"). Part of the differentiators comes from the fact Delphi language will be there before C++, according to come of the details.

Now there is no timeline in the roadmap, which is partially reasonable (given the current missed promises), but somewhat disappointing: will we get a fully working IDE in a couple of years or less... or should be read "one year for each project" ending in late 2013? I certainly hope the former is true.

More Info on Delphi XE

The roadmap provides for the first time a rather complete list of features for the coming version, Delphi XE (partially announced early this week):

• Datasnap extensions ("key new functionality") and related cloud support (Microsoft Azure and Amazon EC2 are mentioned), plus improved REST server support
• Source code management (the subversions integration already showcases in a video)
• Performance profiling and logging support (which I don't think I've seen publicly mentioned previously, see later in this post for the details)
• Sequence diagram generation
• More support for generics
• Additional development tools (quite vague, I have to say)
• Plus various enhancements

In the RAD Studio package there will be also a new Delphi Prism with full Silverlight support and the latest version of the Embarcadero PHP IDE.

AQTime and CodeSite Bundled, Plus More

Some extra features show also in the post "What Beta Testers are Saying" by Time Del Chiaro (http://delphi-insider.blogspot.com/2010/08/what-beta-testers-are-saying-about-rad.html). This post adds to the "profiling and logging" bullet point by #34ing:

“It's great to see that tools such as AQTime and CodeSite will now be part of the default setup"

Both AQTime and Ray Konopka's CodeSite are two highly regarded third-party tools and their addition to Delphi increases the value of the product. Some people might claim "I already have those" but they are quite a minority. I hope this is not a one-time bundle but these add-ins will be kept over time, like it happened in the past with other external tools.

In a different message on the company forum, Mike Rozlog adds more, including RegEX library, and some IP*Works components:

The updated Generics works is awesome, the new RegEX library is really cool, and the new tools added to the environment. AQtime is really awesome and has a great set of base features. Raize CodeSite is really cool, if you have ever implemented logging before, one time with this and you will see the coolness. There are updates from VCL for the Web (IntraWeb), TeeChart, and InterBase Express. Plus new components from IP*Works, and of course integration with Beyond Compare, but there is even more great things...  the DataSnap proxy generator (it currently generates Delphi, C++, JavaScript and now PHP code)... 

A Final Comment

Let me finish with a comment. I've seen a lot of debate about the delay of Mac support. It clearly shows that the company could not keep up to its promises (made just a few months ago, in May). On the other hand, it shows they'd rather take responsibility and delay it rather than cracking out a half-baked and buggy tool. Given the choice, I'm happy this was the decision. Of course, I would have preferred a timely version with tons of new features... but being a software developer myself I can see the struggle. In the past Borland would have shipped (and did ship) what it had at hand. Remember Delphi 4 or Delphi 8 for .NET?

Will this leave Delphi XE as a minor update? It certainly is at the language level, but I'm sure that the focus on bug fixing and quality, along with the integration of third party tools will make it a rather nice and valuable version. Those of you with a few years of Delphi on their back might remember an old version of Delphi, which provided only some fixes (and not as much) and some third party additions (not as many)? That was Delphi 7, which considering how much is being used today after so many years can be considered one of the key versions of the product. Maybe in a few years will remember Delphi XE (the last Win32 Delphi) as such a version.

PS. If I don't approve all comments right way don't take it personally, as I'm taking a few days of "very reduced online activity" for the mid-August Italian holidays...