As you certainly know, Delphi XE2 has been released last week. This is a first blog of a series of posts devoted to the new Delphi.
Embarcadero technologies has released the much anticipated Delphi XE2, with support for Win64 native development and Mac OSX native development. That's certainly a milestone for Delphi. Version 1 used to target 16 bit Windows. Versions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 2005, 2006, 2007 used to target Windows 32 bit, calling the Ansi versions of the APi functions by default. Versions 2009, 201, and XE still used to target only Windows 32-bit, but using the Unicode (Wide) API.
Now, all at once (and after a really long wait), we have in the same IDE a 32 compiler, a 64 bit compiter, and a OSX compiler. In the same IDE means there is only one IDE, natively running on 32-bit Windows (but you can easily run on a Win 64 box) and cross-compiling for other environments. The IDE has also a much revamped remote debugger, that let's you debug seamlessly on Win64 and OSX. Finally, there is an option to export some of your source code to a Mac box, and use the xcode development environment with the open source FreePascal compiler to generate an iOS (iPhone, iPod, iPad) executable.
To accomplish all this there is a brand new cross-platform library (or "application platform") which uses the GPU to abstract the user interface rendering. This is called FireMonkey and is likely the most relevant feature of Delphi XE2. I already showed some FireMonkey videos, I'm giving presentations, have written a white paper, will work on a book... in other words I'm really focusing on FireMonkey. But will blog more about it in the comiong days.
Needless to say there are way more features in Delphi XE2. From a new naming scheme for the units, to the ODBC dbExpress driver, from significant fixes and extensions to the REST support layer to an improved Cloud support, from VCL syles to RTTI improvement, Delphi XE2 has new features for every Delphi developer.
Now, Some Links: Articles and Announcements
Having provided my own presentation, here are some links to Embarcadero pages and magazine articles (good job, marketing guys, to get the word out in such a significant way):
Embarcadero enters business application platform space - SD Times: Software Development News
Embarcadero Unveils FireMonkey, the Next-Generation Business Application Platform | Business Wire
Delphi, C++ to Goose Desktop Apps | PCWorld Business Center
FireMonkey: Embarcadero's New Enterprise RIA Tool -- Application Development Trends
Major Update For Embarcadero RAD Studio XE2 | Dr Dobb's Journal
These are Embarcadero links and link summary pages:
Paweł Głowacki : Links to resources about Delphi XE2 and RAD Studio XE2
Release Notes (readme) for Delphi XE2 and C++Builder XE2
Wrapping up Part 1
This is only the first part of a multi-part / multi-day blog post, as there is too much I want to say (and I need to catch a train from Paris to Koln in about an hour). I'll specifically blog about 64 bit, FireMonkey, REST support, third-party tools... and more. Stay tuned, and get to one of those XE2 World Tour events if you can.