Discussing, Learning, and Using Delphi and related technologies to create Great Applications!

In Persuit of Development Clairvoyance

April, 2013

TOPIC

As web technologies become more robust and the interfaces more rich and user-friendly and as a plethora of computing devices in every size and price range fill our lives, there is a race in the industry to become a major vendor of development tools to build applications for these various computing platforms. It seems that everyone is touting theirs as the one solution you need to cover all devices, minimize development effort, and provide the best experience for the users of your software.

But they can’t all be that good. Some tools are merely open source plug-ins to a larger framework. Some tools have serious limitations they don’t believe should be show-stoppers. And some tools are still in beta testing, possibly nowhere near ready for professionals to use.

Where does Delphi fit in all this? Do we have to leave the Pascal language to embrace this new world of multi-platform proliferation? Or is Embarcadero really going to come through on it’s promise to write-once, compile for almost anything? Is FireMonkey the answer to keep us paying homage to the gods of Delphi?

Tonight’s meeting will be a discussion of the industry trends for development tools, the pros and cons, the positive and negative opinions of any who wish to gather. Hopefully, we’ll draw out those who have ventured to new territory and learn from their experiences.

There will be no one presenter and possibly no clear technology of choice at the end of the evening. But may we all leave with a broader picture of the direction development tools are taking–and some things to consider when it’s time for our own personal decision-making.