Delphi Programming/Introduction

How to Get Started Developing in Object Pascal using Delphi or Lazarus

All you need for programming in Object Pascal is an IDE for the Object Pascal programming Language. The number one commercial choice for Pascal development is Delphi.

To get a demo of or to buy Delphi, see http://www.embarcadero.com. If you prefer a free open-source IDE, see Lazarus at http://www.lazarus.freepascal.org. Choose one of those links and download and then install the IDE.

You should know that there are some differences between Delphi and Lazarus:

• Delphi provides two frameworks, the VCL and Firemonkey, for developing applications.
• Lazarus provides a very similar, but not compatible framework called LCL for developing applications.
• There is a wide variety of third-party and open-source components, a much larger set of components, and tools, and add-ons that work with Delphi, as you might expect for a large commercial application.
• Lazarus has a smaller, but active community that you can find online.
• Delphi has a larger community around it than Lazarus, which you can also find online. There are many blogs, forums, and user groups.

There are also many similarities:

• Delphi and Lazarus both support the Object Pascal language with Objects, for object-oriented programming.