Question

From what I’ve read from the previous posts, Delphi 7 is stable and has the best help system but is slow, Delphi 2007 is fast but the help system is bad and the IDE is buggy. Delphi 2009 is stable and fast but the help system is bad too. The posts were made when 2010 isn’t available yet. I am planning to upgrade from Delphi 7 to 2010. Is Delphi 2010 stable, fast and has a good help system?

Answer 1

Here are some reasons why I stick to Delphi 7, having Delphi 2010 at hand to recompile and test what I wrote in Delphi 7, in a cross-version manner:

• if your source code compiles on Delphi 7, and you make careful usage of Unicode/AnsiString, it will work as well with Delphi 2010;
• if your source code compiles on Delphi 7, it will work as well with Free Pascal, so
  cross-platform and 64 bits are open to you;
• if your source code compiles on Delphi 7, it can be cross-compiled with CrossKylix directly from the Delphi 7 IDE – see Has any one used CrossKylix for real Cross-platform development?
• Delphi 7 runs well on my Windows Seven 64 bits system, if you install it not in “C:\Program Files” but in “C:\Progs” for example;
• Delphi 7 starts faster than Delphi 2007, and MUCH faster than Delphi 2009/2010 – see http://andy.jgknet.de/dspeedup
• generated code is almost the same since Delphi 7 – when I need speed, I use better algorithms, and assembler if it’s worth it;
• Delphi 7 IDE is as powerful as Delphi 2010 IDE, if you use some IDE enhancements like http://www.cnpack.org;
• Delphi 7 help is still the reference – why waiting for 20 seconds on my Core i7 processor waiting for the awful MS help system to launch? and if you want to create an application able to run under XP, its content will be enough for you; if you want to know about newer OS, just use msdn web site directly, or via google: it sounded to me easier than the help integrated with Delphi 2005/2010;
• I use the assembler/CPU view a lot: all Delphi IDE have the Alt-F2, but you can close this window by the escape key on Delphi 7 – I was not able to find such a keyboard shortcut under Delphi 2007/2010, and it’s very annoying;
• Delphi 7 executable size are small, and even smaller with our LVCL libraries (30 KB for a form with buttons);
• I didn’t have the need for generics and such up to now – I like knowing which code is generated;
• Delphi 7 is Unicode ready, whatever you say – its associated VCL was not, but CharSets are not evil, and work well – what I do is develop under Delphi 7, then compile with Delphi 2010 and get all the Unicode benefits if needed;
• I use a large screen (at 1920×1280 resolution), and Delphi 7 makes it easy to have multiple edit windows at once – newer IDE locked layout was not a good idea… at such that EMB officially added the “Delphi 7 way undocked IDE” feature to Delphi 2010: and marketing sell it as a new feature;
• and so on, and so on…