I have been deeply involved in DELPHI. Of course, DELPHI is now past its most glorious era. But why continue without turning to something else? Isn’t this a fool’s errand?
I looked at the birth of LINQ for C# and then its replacement by Entity Framework. After thinking about it:
1) LINQ does have benefits, but there are not many scenarios in which it is used, so it becomes useless. So when it comes to learning new things, sometimes it may not be of great benefit to you.
2) With the development of software programming, there are many fancy little things. These little things may bring you benefits, but they may not necessarily. As long as you don't use it, it's of no use. Moreover, some things are only transitional and experimental. If the developers think it is not good, they may abandon it. This is indeed something that developers are very taboo about. This is also the reason why they do not follow M$. The C language is very old, but it is still ranked second, which can illustrate these problems. Because C can do everything by himself, and he can make wheels by himself. It can have a single function and not need too many things to rank second.
3) The issue of frameworks. In fact, if you go deep into one thing, during a long period of programming, you will accumulate frameworks that are beneficial to your work. In this way, your work efficiency will continue to improve. If you jump to another pit, you have to accumulate again, so this may not be worthwhile. When the framework is accumulated to a certain extent, the efficiency is not necessarily much worse than new gadgets.
4) Customer requirements, most of which have no language requirements. As long as the direction remains unchanged, why bother bothering yourself. Maybe some customers have requirements, but such orders don’t need to be made. If there are requirements for language, you can also ask for what framework, what structure, etc. to use. But frameworks are ever-changing, and so are coding styles. A source code, even for the most popular language, is not easy for another person to maintain.
5) D continues to develop and is not afraid of the niche. As long as you still use it for yourself, you are not afraid of the niche. A person can only do his or her own job. Just make it comfortable for you to write and comfortable for your customers to use. When you are content, you don’t have to strive for first place in everything. The free time can be used to do other things. Other things are important too. People need to have a good balance. If they are too demanding and seek the best in everything, they will not do well in everything.
6) Make good use of inconspicuous little things to think about problems. Improve yourself. I complained before that DELPHI is divided into implementation part and definition part, and it is inconvenient to change the code. Later, I used MMX and found that this shortcoming was not so obvious. It’s also much more comfortable to work with. I kept going deeper and deeper into the latest DELPHI XE IDE, CNPACK, MMX and other gadgets, and found that they are good if used well. Although there are always some differences between the overall and the most popular C#, the overall problem is not big and it is acceptable.
The same goes for debugging code. I think languages like VB can change the code while debugging, but D cannot. But later I improved my debugging techniques and habits, and found that the problem was not that big.
In fact, this is also the philosophy of dealing with people and things, and the same applies to a person. There is no need to complain about the bad environment you are in because of small things, and you have to change this or that. In fact, as long as you analyze your life and work carefully, you will achieve good results even if you continue to make small improvements with limited resources.
The above points are just exchanges of opinions based on my own personal situation. Maybe readers will have different ideas.
Advantages and Disadvantages of DELPHI
Simple and easy-to-use IDE, superb compilation, concise help (D7 and below), powerful functions, efficient development...
C/S preferred
The 2016 version is prone to crashes, unless the software developed by Delphi used by the employer needs to be maintained. Generally, novices choose Java, C#, etc.
What is the future of the dying Delphi?
Since Borland released Delphi 1.0 in 1995, Delphi has been favored by many developers. By the time Delphi5 was released in 1999, Delphi attracted many developers with its advantages of fast development, rich controls, and ease of use. The number of users reached a climax. Once surpassed Visual Studio. But the good times did not last long. Shortly after the launch of Delphi7, the Borland company also declined and was eventually acquired for a mere US$75 million.
The main reason for Borland's collapse was the company's financial difficulties and rising internal conflicts. But I think the underlying reason is that product pricing is rigid and too high. I remember that a genuine set of Delphi cost 68,000 RMB at that time, while Visual Studio in the same period only sold for more than 10,000 RMB. Exorbitant pricing has caused many people to give up using genuine products and use pirated versions. This may be the main reason for Borland's financial difficulties.
1. Version changes after bankruptcy
After the Borland company collapsed, it first went to Eberon, then to Microsoft, and finally to Embarcadero. The last version of Borland is Delphi7. Later, there were Delphi2005 to Delphi2010. These versions were basically not paid attention to by Delphi developers because D7 was used very well. Embarcadero launched DelphiXE, and the version has been upgraded very quickly. It has now reached XE10.2. And began to support mobile phone development in XE5. Cause some Delphi attention.
2. Delphi’s current user population
After the collapse of the Borland company, the confidence of many Delphi enthusiasts was shaken. In addition, with the rise of Java and .net, many developers turned to abandon Delphi, and the Delphi user base was rapidly lost. After several years, it is estimated that there are only three types of Delphi developers left:
1. Amateur developers, people who find it difficult to switch to other development tools;
2. There are very few die-hard Delphi fans. Programmers have to make a living after all, and no one will lose their job clinging to Delphi. The so-called die-hard fans should be those who are unwilling or have difficulty switching;
3. There are a large number of people who have existing Delphi systems and cannot rewrite them all, so they can only stay in Delphi.
Young developers basically don't enter Delphi. Everyone knows that Delphi is a declining tool, and it is difficult to find a job after learning it, so they simply don't enter. Therefore, so far, Delphi developers are basically experienced developers. I once attended a new version launch conference of Delphi XE. Basically, the attendees were all over 30 years old. This was several years ago. Therefore, Delphi can be said to have no successor.
The youngest age of veteran drivers is estimated to be around 35 years old. If new people don’t come in, these people will fade out of programming in five or ten years. At this age, most people basically want to work part-time and get out of coding. sea of bitterness. Therefore, Delphi will not live long.
3. Current dilemma of Delphi users
1. Hardware and operating system upgrades make it impossible for users to stay on the D7
Most people who continue to use Delphi are basically still using versions of Delphi6 or Delphi7, with the latter being more numerous. Delphi has changed hands several times, and some versions have been released after D7. Delphi2005.net, 2009, 2010, and now XE, XE has reached ten. The reason why veteran drivers cannot continue to stay in D7 is mainly the upgrade of the operating system and computer hardware. The previous version of Delphi7 ran very well under the XP 32-bit system, but it did not work well on the later Win7 and 64-bit systems. There is also no support for multi-core CPUs. XP is no longer supported by Microsoft. This forced some people to leave Delphi, and the remaining experienced drivers considered looking to XE to upgrade the old system.
2. XE does not support Windows development well.
Judging from the latest version orientation of Delphi XE, Embarcadero seems to be more focused on mobile development. The latest version also wants to go to Linux and give up support for Windows. D6 and D7 only focus on development on Windows. Now XE has to support Windows, Android, IOS and Linux at the same time, which can be said to be too long. Development support for Windows feels increasingly poor. You must know that the main users now are veteran drivers, who follow the old path, EXE + DLL. They need to migrate the old system to the new tool before they can continue to use Delphi's new features in the old way and develop Android, IOS and Linux. However, XE seems to not work as soon as it comes to DLL. This cannot solve the worries of the old drivers. The worry of the old drivers is to move their old things to the new XE. Until this is solved, they will not think about it. Use XE's new features.
In addition, isn't Delphi written for Android, IOS and Linux just for experienced drivers? Who the hell is a new driver still using this crap like Delphi? Besides, there are many development tools for Android, IOS and Linux that are open source and free. It is authentic, original, mature and widely used. Delphi really has no advantages at all. Who else can use it except for those old drivers who only know Delphi and are unwilling to leave Delphi.
Besides, using Delphi to develop Android and IOS will always fall behind others. Because Android is from Google and IOS is from Apple, both of them have their own development tools. When Android and IOS are upgraded, their own systems will immediately support the new version, while Delphi will have to wait until Embarcadero develops a new version that supports it. The XE version does not. Therefore, from the perspective of catching up with new technologies, professional developers will not choose DelphiXE to develop Android and IOS. Even though Embarcadero boasts that it has many controls and a relatively beautiful interface, it will not have any effect.
4. Little development support
People say "smart programmers use Delphi", Delphi is easy to get started but difficult to practice. It is easier to do some simple programs in Delphi, but it will be very troublesome to do more professional programs. The learning curve is flat at the beginning and steep at the end. After you have reached a certain level of programming, you will definitely want the program to be more beautiful and powerful. At this time, you will feel that Delphi is not an assistant but an obstacle. From this point of view, young people are right not to choose Delphi.
In addition, there is very little information. There is more information on D6 and D7, but there is much less information on later versions. For experienced drivers, there is basically no need to look up information when using the old Delphi, but only when using the new Delphi. However, there is very little information. There is even little information in English. The reasons can be summarized as follows:
(1) With fewer users, there will be fewer people posting articles online, and it will be difficult to find useful information online. This problem is also related to the high price of Delphi and the lack of a free community version. Anyway, it is a vicious cycle.
(2) Embarcadero itself provides very little information, and is conservative and refuses to fully open up the little information it has.
(3) The help file is too poor. Compared with MSDN, it's really heaven and earth. It's hard to explain. like:
Description
Embarcadero Technologies does notcurrently have any additional information. Please help us document this topic by using the Discussion page!
The basic meaning of the above in English is "Embarcadero has no comment, please write it for me." Needless to say, there are few Chinese materials. Even if you are prepared to read the English materials, you will find that there are also few English materials. There are some on some of Embarcadero's own websites, and you have to buy its products before they are open to you. This means that people who want to enter Delphi can't get in, and people who want to stay in Dephi can't stay.
5. Extortionate marketing disgusts Delphi users
Users don’t just want to use pirated versions. Most people also want to use genuine versions, but there are prerequisites, namely:
(1) The product will not have bugs, which XE may not do well.
(2) The support must be good, otherwise you won’t be able to use it after buying it, which is not good at all;
(3) The price must be reasonable and the service attitude must be good.
It is said that someone called the agent of Delphi (Embarcadero) to inquire about the price. The agent basically hesitated and refused to quote, and then someone from Delphi called the next day and said that you used a pirated version of Delphi and made people feel uncomfortable. I am very angry, dumbfounded, and feel very bad. The price of Delphi is still very high, much more expensive than Microsoft's development kit. Therefore, I estimate that it will be difficult for Embarcadero to make money from the sale. They want to fight piracy, but piracy still exists.
Search the Internet about Embarcadero’s extortionate marketing, and there are many posts.
4. Prospects of Delphi
I sympathize with Delphi, and even more with developers who have illusions about Delphi. They stick to Delphi so much, so they must be willing to buy the genuine version of Delphi and support Delphi, but it is a torture for those who sell Delphi to do so. Embarcadero takes the copyright of its products very seriously, but it still cannot control piracy. Not only do I pay close attention to the products, but I also pay close attention to some of Delphi's technical documents. If I want to check some technical documents on its website, without authorization, it is basically a waste of time. Looking at his help file, it is also very poorly written, unclear and confusing. Searching online, there is very little information.
Delphi has been trapped in an endless loop. Looking at Embarcadero's recent performance, it seems that it has neither the ability nor the ideas to get out of it. If things go this way, Delphi will probably disappear in three to five years. If Delphi wants to continue to exist, it should start from the following aspects.
1. Eliminate system bugs, enhance support for old users, and stabilize old drivers;
2. Launch the free community version as soon as possible and vigorously increase new user groups.
3. Adjust price strategy to achieve small profits but quick turnover.
4. Increase user support and open technical information to make it easier for more people to learn Delphi and increase its appeal to users.
5. Reposition the user. As mentioned in the previous analysis, with tools such as C++, Java, Android, and Objective-C that are native, free, and advanced, it is no longer possible for Delphi to become a professional development tool. Delphi can only take advantage of the ease of entry to position its user group at the amateur developer group. In fact, this group is very large. A large number of financial analysts, financial analysts, and engineers use Excel scripts, statistical software, or MATLAB toolkits for programming, but cannot effectively organize their programs. Delphi fully meets their functional requirements. requirements, but also helps them organize their programs. The functional requirements of this group of people are relatively fixed and they do not have the requirement to catch up with the cutting edge of technology. Delphi is just right for them.