Delphi until retirement or what?!

Big Question!

I began working with Delphi in let's say 1999 and I am still a senior Delphi developer. It seems that the number of companies and job opportunities based on Delphi is decreasing. I am wondering how many years I have left before I need to switch to a different technology. Is it feasible for me to continue working with Delphi until retirement, or do I need to make a transition now? What are your predictions in this regard?

The long-term future of Delphi is uncertain, as it faces competition from newer programming languages and frameworks. However, Delphi remains a powerful and versatile language that is still used by a significant number of developers.

Here are some factors that could impact the future of Delphi:

• The continued growth of mobile and web development: Delphi is not as well-suited for mobile and web development as some newer languages, such as Swift, Kotlin, and JavaScript. However, there are tools available that allow Delphi developers to create mobile and web applications.

• The adoption of cloud computing: Delphi can be used to develop cloud applications, but it faces competition from languages that are specifically designed for cloud development, such as Python and Node.js.

• The rise of low-code and no-code development platforms: These platforms are making it easier for non-developers to create applications, which could reduce the demand for professional developers, including Delphi developers.

Despite these challenges, Delphi has several strengths that could help it to remain a viable language for the foreseeable future:

• A large and passionate community of developers: There are a large number of Delphi developers who are passionate about the language and who are actively contributing to its development.

• A mature and stable ecosystem of tools and libraries: Delphi has a mature and stable ecosystem of tools and libraries that make it easy to develop high-quality applications.

• A continued focus on performance and productivity: Embarcadero, the company that owns Delphi, is continuing to invest in the language and is focused on improving its performance and productivity.

Based on these factors, it is possible that Delphi will continue to be a viable language for at least the next 10 to 20 years. However, Delphi developers will need to be willing to adapt to new technologies and trends in order to remain competitive.

Here are some specific recommendations for Delphi developers:

• Learn about new technologies: Keep up with the latest trends in mobile, web, and cloud development. Learn about new languages and frameworks that are being used for these types of development.

• Get involved with the Delphi community: Participate in online forums and conferences to connect with other Delphi developers. Share your knowledge and experience with others.

• Consider specializing in a niche: Develop expertise in a particular area of Delphi development, such as enterprise application development or embedded systems development.

• Be willing to learn new skills: Be open to learning new skills, such as cloud development or low-code development, that could make you more marketable to potential employers.

By following these recommendations, Delphi developers can increase their chances of success in the years to come.

Embracing Green Coding in Delphi: Building Sustainable Software in 2024!

In recent years, the environmental impact of software development has become increasingly evident. This has led to a growing movement within the software industry towards green coding, which focuses on developing software in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner. Delphi, a popular programming language, offers a number of features and tools that can be used to create green code. This blog post explores the concept of Green Coding in the context of Delphi and provides some practical tips for writing sustainable code, with a focus on utilizing the System.Threading unit for efficient multithreading. Additionally, it delves into the usage of System.Threading's TTask, TParallel, TFuture, and TThreadPool classes for resource-efficient task management.

Understanding Green Coding

Green coding is the practice of developing software in a way that minimizes its environmental impact. This includes factors such as energy consumption, resource usage, and waste generation. As software developers, we have a responsibility to consider the environmental impact of our work and adopt practices that promote sustainability.

Evaluating Delphi's Eco-Friendly Features

Delphi offers a number of features that contribute to green coding. For example, Delphi applications are typically compiled to native machine code, which makes them more efficient than applications that run in a virtual machine. Delphi also provides a number of built-in libraries and frameworks that can help developers write energy-efficient code.

Optimizing Code for Efficiency with System.Threading

System.Threading provides classes and functions that facilitate efficient multithreading, enabling developers to distribute tasks across multiple threads, leading to improved performance and reduced energy consumption. Here's an example of using System.Threading to create and manage threads:

Code snippet

procedure TMyForm.CreateThread(ThreadProc: TThreadProc;
ThreadParameter: Pointer);

begin
  TThread := TThread.Create(ThreadProc, ThreadParameter);
  TThread.Start; 
end;

In this example, the CreateThread procedure creates a new thread using the TThread class and assigns it the ThreadProc procedure as its entry point. The ThreadParameter argument provides additional data to be passed to the thread.

Leveraging TTask and TParallel for Efficient Task Management

System.Threading introduced TTask and TParallel as more advanced mechanisms for managing asynchronous tasks. TTask provides a lightweight and efficient way to execute tasks asynchronously, while TParallel offers a parallel execution framework for executing tasks concurrently.

Example using TTask:

Code snippet

var
  Result: Integer;
begin
  TTask.Run(function: Integer
  begin
    Result := ComputeSomething;
    Sleep(1000);
  end);
end;

Example using TParallel:

Code snippet

var
  Numbers: array of Integer;
  Result: array of Integer;
begin
  TParallel.For(0, Length(Numbers) - 1,
    function(Index: Integer)
    begin
      Result[Index] := ProcessNumber(Numbers[Index]);
    end);
end;

Utilizing TFuture for Retrieving Task Results

TFuture, introduced along with TTask, provides a mechanism for retrieving the results of asynchronous tasks. It allows the calling thread to wait for the completion of the task and access its result.

Example using TFuture:

Code snippet

var
  Future: IFuture<Integer>;
  Result: Integer;
begin
  Future := TTask.Future(function: Integer
  begin
    Result := ComputeSomething;
    Sleep(1000);
  end);

  Result := Future.Value;
end;

Employing TThreadPool for Efficient Thread Pool Management

TThreadPool provides a mechanism for managing a pool of threads for efficient execution of asynchronous tasks. It automatically reuses threads from the pool, reducing the overhead of thread creation and destruction.

Example using TThreadPool:

Code snippet

var
  ThreadPool: TThreadPool;
  Task1: ITask;
  Task2: ITask;
  Result1: Integer;
  Result2: Integer;
begin
  // Create a thread pool with 4 worker threads
  ThreadPool := TThreadPool.Create;
  ThreadPool.MinWorkerThreads := 1;
  ThreadPool.MaxWorkerThreads := 4;

  // Create two tasks that will be executed in the thread pool
  Task1 := TTask.Run(procedure
  var
    Number: Integer;
  begin
    // Simulate some work
    for Number := 1 to 1000000 do
    begin
      Inc(Result1);
    end;
  end);

  Task2 := TTask.Run(procedure
  var
    Number: Integer;
  begin
    // Simulate some work
    for Number := 1 to 1000000 do
    begin
      Inc(Result2);
    end;
  end);

  // Wait for both tasks to complete
  Task1.Wait;
  Task2.Wait;

  // Display the results
  ShowMessage(Format('Result1 = %d', [Result1]));
  ShowMessage(Format('Result2 = %d', [Result2]));

  // Free the thread pool
  ThreadPool.Free;
end;

 More Info: https://docwiki.embarcadero.com/Libraries/Alexandria/en/System.Threading