Once in a while I meet some programmer, typically Java, Python or C++ developer who have absolutely no knowledge of Delphi. The only thing he knows is that it looks like something between Basic and Modula, and as such he blurts out comments like “Delphi? What the hell, who uses Delphi anyways! I have never used a program written in Delphi! Have you ever seen a Delphi program that actually works!“.

The latter is a direct quote from the React OS forums [an older thread I admit, but true non-the-less] where several users asked for prioritized Delphi support (to be able to run Delphi on the free ReactOS system, which is basically an open-source re-make of Windows NT). The response came from one of React OS engineers, a very well known C++ programmer, who for some reason hates Delphi. Why we will never know.

I wish I could have been a part of that conversation because I would have set him straight about a number of things; but by the time I came into in this (by asking about Delphi of course) the comment section was muted and the thread left for dead. Which is a great shame, because I am willing to bet that he indeed has used a program written in Delphi. He simply did not know that it was a Delphi application — or the fact that Delphi rivals C/C++ in almost every field. In some cases it even surpasses C/C++ in terms of speed, but C++ programmers dont like to talk about that 🙂

Famous Delphi titles

Anyways, below is a short list of applications written in Delphi, just those that I can think about on top of my head (and with a little help of my friends over at Delphi Developer on Facebook). Some may come as a surprise, other not. But there is a lot of Delphi code out there that people don’t know about! And this is just a drop in the proverbial ocean of Delphi software titles.

So if you are new to object pascal, introduced by Smart Mobile Studio, Delphi or FreePascal, then I hope this list will at least give you a taste of what our language can do. You will find highly versatile, friendly, advanced, scalable and productive language which grows with you. No matter how good you get at programming, object pascal will never leave you lacking in features. Well, here is the list of the titles I know:

Anti spyware and system tools

File and disk

BeyondCompare, file comparison and merge application

Total Commander, file management application

Super Copier, Win32/64 file copy/move dialog replacements

CloneDVD, DVD copying software

Ultra ISO, DVD and CD program

Authoring and help

Help and Manual, Helpfile and book authoring software

HelpNDoc, HTML help writer application

SSuite Office Software, full office package written in Delphi

Database

Multimedia, print and web

Networking

Jotta Online Backup, Cloud backup service

TeamSpeak, network telephony, voIP application

Hamachi, VPN Software [C++ builder combo]

Avant browser, web browser written in Delphi

Scientific

Altium Designer Board

Orca Flex, design and analysis of offshore marine systems

SOFIA, Nasa software project

Orca Lay, planning and optimization of pipeline and umbilical lay procedures

Orca Bend, design tool for efficient optimization of elastomeric bend stiffeners

Diptrace, Schematic capture software

Misc titles

Personal Historian, Ancestry and genealogy program

Family Atlas, Ancestry and genealogy program

Basic Premiere, Organ donor software

Omni Accounts, Accounting software

Programming languages and IDE’s

Commercial gaming

Space Rangers, Game written in Delphi

Abra Academy, Game title by Big Fish games

Tunngle, global LAN gaming network

Soldat, online action game

Age of Wonders, strategy game

Emulators

nesTen, Nintendo emulator written in Delphi

winNes, Nintendo emulator written in Delphi

ulTee, Another Nintendo emulator also written in Delphi

DSP, Arcade emulator written in Delphi

Dolphin, Nintendo Gamecube and WII emulator written in Delphi

DxBx, XBox emulator written in Delphi

As mentioned, there are thousands of titles created in Delphi and freepascal which are available in the global marketplace. Many of them completely free of charge just like freepascal and Lazarus. Applications that are very well known and used — which means it’s a shame that people (especially programmers using different languages) dont give Delphi and object pascal the credit it deserves. Delphi is not basic, and pascal was the language designed to replace C/C++ all those years ago. So it’s no push-over or lightweight. The code produced by Delphi is en-par with C++ Builder (it’s companion “sister” product) with support for generics, inline assembler, anonymous procedures, templates (FPC) and much, much more.

So the next time someone goes “What? Object Pascal? Delphi?” then give them this list and ask them if they have ever used one of these programs. I havent even scratched the surface with this tiny list, but im pretty sure most people have used or at least heard about Skype. And Nero Burning Rom is also very, very well known – so odds are they have used that at some point.

Pascal is a “real” language. It’s not a basic compiler with an intermediate bytecode format that requires a truck-load of bloated DLL files to run. It’s not a script runtime or juiced up state machine. Object Pascal compilers produce real machine code and the language supports inline assembly straight out of the box. The executables you get have NO dependencies. As for Delphi, which is regarded as the “trend setter”, it’s sister and companion product is C++ builder which it is binary compatible with; Meaning that you can use compiled units between them without change. What you compile in C/C++ you can use in pascal, and what you create in pascal you can link and use in C without special treatment.

Besides that you can link to .lib and .obj files to your heart content, write header files for dll’s or imported code segments — heck, operative systems have been written from scratch in object pascal (so you Java boys can chill out, we did it decades before you – and we did it better).

And programmers (even Microsoft) use InnoSetup or there is something wrong with them 😉