It's an exciting day here at CodeGear! The following two announcements just hit the wire this morning:
Delphi 2007 for Win32 and Delphi for PHP
The first product is a direct result of survey results, direct customer feedback, and input from various other sources. The second product is our first break-out product for CodeGear. In the following weeks, you'll begin to hear some more information about what new an interesting things we're putting into these products. One little tidbit is from Steve Shaughnessy with his post about some new developments in the database area.
Something that is pretty exciting about Delphi 2007 is the integration of MSBuild. There is a whole cottage industry springing up around MSBuild that is providing a myriad of different tools for all kinds of interesting things. Nick Hodges has a few screenshots over here of some the enhancements related to MSBuild, including named configurations.
Another first for Delphi (and in this release only) is that we've done a lot of work to ensure backward compatibility with Delphi 2006. This means that nearly all your third-party components for Delphi 2006 will work seemlessly with Delphi 2007. It is a compatible version of VCL with a lot of enhancements for better supporting Windows Vista including full control over the “glass” frame of top-level forms. The IDE has also received a lot of performance improvements. The general feeling from our field-testers is that the IDE is considered as fast as Delphi 7. We've also done some unprecedented things with our field-test. For instance, Nick posted to his blog an open invitation to join the field-test. I don't know if we're still allowing folks in, but it couldn't hurt to ask.
I'm hopeful that these new developments will be begin to prove that we are serious about developers and developer tools here at CodeGear. We aren't through yet... it should be interesting to hear what we have in store for the rest of this year.
So i'm curious... why php only? Wouldn't it be better to create an extendable platform, like IntelliJ or even Eclipse.
ReplyDeleteThrow in out of the box support for php and say, rails or django.
All this <whatever> VLC is nice and peachy, but why reinvent the wheel? There are a plethora of open frameworks out there and which people know how to use. Are you going down the MS way, if it's not borland, pard me, CodeGear, it's evil? :)
Alex,
ReplyDeleteThis is just the first of what should be many other announcements throughout 2007. Rome wasn't built in a day, so too we're charging full speed ahead. You should look at what the other CodeGear folks are saying on their blogs.
VCL is a clear paradigm and helps ensure "design-ability" of the framework. That, of course, doesn't mean that many of the popular PHP frameworks are not supported. Delphi for PHP will support things like Smarty, qooxdoo, database bindings, etc... Also, VCL for PHP is open source (http://sourceforge.net/projects/vcl4php) so if you want to contribute to that effort, that's available.
So is there a C++ version on the way? Unoffical approximate time frame? I've spent a lot of time in the past weeks working on C++ components to deal with Vista and the glass client area; just wondering if I can stop in anticipation of official VCL Vista updates to C++ or if I should chug ahead rolling my own for now...
ReplyDeleteMark,
ReplyDeleteIf you can hold out for just a while longer, you will not be disappointed. That's all I can commit to at this time ;-/ I will, however, say that we are *very* committed to continued development on C++Builder.
Delphi for PHP? That's fantastic.
ReplyDeletehttp://sourceforge.net/projects/vcl4php does not have any source in cvs (and the file section) or any info in the website-frontpage. Before doing a a press release make sure you have the files in the correct place otherwise it shows CodeGear is not serious about its products and I'm sure this is going to hurt the company's reputation.
ReplyDeleteJack,
ReplyDeleteThat was just the announcement. Once the product is available and shipping, the initial drop into the repositories will be made. We're still working on the initial release. This is very common for *many* OS projects where the initial drop isn't until it is actually usable and presentable to the world. There's no conspiracy here. March isn't very far from now which is the timeframe given in the press release. Just a few more weeks.
The name is confusing. Delphi for PHP makes me think that I can code in Delphi Syntax
ReplyDeleteand it will then convert it into PHP files.
Would it not be more apporiate to have named it something like BDE for PHP, Turbo PHP, PHPBuilder?
So what did you work on all the time? Sorry, but I cannot see the big difference to Delphi 2006, and I cannot imagine Vista compatibility and MSBuild support is the only thing you were working on about a year. Is this an intermediate release with lower upgrade prices to the next version? When will the next full version be released?
ReplyDeleteImpatiently looking forward to the new roadmap...
And I agree with J Doll. Why abuse the Delphi name for a new product that has nothing to do with Delphi?
The name is perhaps a bit confusing, but you have to admit that it's what all of us will call this product anyway.
ReplyDeleteJBuilder was always called "Delphi for Java" and Kylix is still explained as "Delphi for Linux".
So, why not Delphi for PHP. That explains the goal in a nutshell, at least to CodeGear's current audience. AND hopefully it will draw interest to Delphi proper by putting the name back on everyone's tongue.
Will Generics be available in Delphi 2007 Win32? And have you done any enhancements on the RTTI?
ReplyDeleteI think the name PHPBuilder has alread been taken. PHPBulder.com, phpbuilder.sf.net are a few examples
ReplyDeleteThis Delphi for PHP sounds intriguing. Like the Idea of VCL for PHP and well be giving it a close look. Just the type of product Ideas I was hoping to see from CG.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I hope the Delphi Hour covers tommorrow are all the possible ugrade options to Delphi 2007 for Win32. Specifically is/will there be any upgrade route from Turbo Delphi 2006 Pro to this product ? If not I and I suspect many others will be somewhat disappointed as surely Idea of Turbo Delphi was to get new users to the technology and hope they then progress to the higher level products.
Generics are not in Delphi 2007.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.codegear.com/Products/Delphi/Delphi2007forWin32/Delphi2007forWin32FAQ/tabid/241/Default.aspx#delphiwin32_faq25
It sounds like that will wait till the next full BDS (CGDS?) release. Methinks this is more of a "Get Code Gear off to a good start" release and the main course is yet to come. By fixing a number of IDE issues and allowing folks to get in on the Vista wave, not to mention simplyfying the release process by providing the MS Build stuff, it sounds like they've really added a lot of nice usability stuff.
They've obviously got something more in store for us as well (see "it should be interesting to hear what we have in store for the rest of this year.").
It's been quite a year, so I'm pleased to see anything coming out. Frankly, I wasn't expecting something this soon.
Allen, what I read in the newsgroups sounds very good. You and Nick always said 'Trust us you will not be disappointed because CG is not Borland'. I think that you scored big points here. Way to go CodeGear !!!
ReplyDeleteGreat news. As a long time D7 user I am excited for Delphi 2007. Now when can we buy the products?
ReplyDeleteI would imagine that VCL support for the new Vista look-and-feel would be something of an undertaking, Moritz.
ReplyDeleteI own a copy of BDS 2006 Architect with Software Assurance. Will Delphi for PHP be included in the next release (2007) of the Developer Studio (new personality) or included under the umbrella of Software Assurance? As soon as the name of "Delphi for PHP" was announced, I knew exactly what kind of tool it is going to be: Component-based development environment and IDE for the PHP language.
ReplyDeleteGreat news for CodeGear & Delphi lovers.Keep it up.Hope you will allow web download for people on SA so that we can get it the day it is released
ReplyDeleteVenkatesh
"we've done a lot of work to ensure backward compatibility"
ReplyDeleteAs in... we didn't change things that would brake backwards compatibility? I've never experienced being backwards compatible as a lot of work.
Alright.... Here's a suggestion for how to solve the current naming problems caused by different naming conventions between different products.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion all CodeGear products should be re-branded according to the following scheme (or a similar one):
Delphi 2007 Developer Studio Edition
Delphi 2007 Pascal Edition for Win32
Delphi 2007 Pascal Edition for .NET
Delphi 2007 C++ Edition
Delphi 2007 C# Edition
Delphi 2007 Java Edition
Delphi 2007 PHP Edition
I have no idea how expensive and/or potentially devastating such a re-naming could be. But... if it's possible to pull it off without losing massive amounts of users, and whithout spending massive amounts on marketing, I think it sounds like a good idea.
After all, the intention is for the development products to be part of a product family, and the intention is to provide both single language editions and combined editions.
I think such a naming scheme would be more effective in the long run, compared to the current naming schemes, where some products follow the Builder naming scheme, some follow the Delphi naming scheme (implying Pascal), and some products follow neither (Delphi for PHP).
Ok... I can't help it, but I've spent even some more time thinking about the different possible naming strategies for CodeGear. Here's my second take on it:
ReplyDeleteDeveloper Studio 2007
Developer Studio 2007 Delphi for Win32 Edition
Developer Studio 2007 C++ for Win32 Edition
Developer Studio 2007 Delphi Edition
Developer Studio 2007 C++ Edition
Developer Studio 2007 C# Edition
Developer Studio 2007 PHP Edition
I think it probably was going too far to try and include the Delphi brand name for all the different products. Also, I think maybe the mentioning of "Pascal" could have had some kind of negative effect on the marketing. So... instead, I think the focus should be on the "Developer Studio" brand, and Delphi should be used as the name of a language and not as the name of a product. I think that's better, since most coders I know think of Delphi just in that way; as a separate language, and not as much as a product.
I for one am eagerly waiting for Delphi 2007 Win32. IDE speed increase = more productivity (I am currently using 2005 ...)
ReplyDeleteAnd I am looking forward to Vista support as well :-)
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI tell to everyone and too many people want Delphi on linux not Kylix. Delphi for Linux !!!!
Regards,
Adnan