Python and Delphi
The Big Three development environments must be Visual Basic, Visual C++, and Borland Delphi. Delphi users feel that the language and development environment combine the ease of use of Visual Basic with the power of C++, and the Visual Component Library that comes with Delphi does a superb job of hiding the complexities of the Windows API. Delphi is particularly popular in Europe, where Pascal has often been the teaching language for computer science.
Delphi uses Object Pascal, the latest stage in the evolution of Pascal. Like C++, Delphi is a fully compiled language that allows both high-level object-oriented programming and “down-to-the-metal” manipulation of raw memory and pointers. It’s a pure Windows tool that allows you to write DLLs and EXEs and to access all the Windows API calls. It also supports the C calling convention. This means that in theory Delphi can access the main Python DLL in the same way as C/C++ programs, and can compile DLLs Python can use as extensions.
During 1997 and 1998, a package called PyDelphi (included in the examples for
this chapter at http://starship.python.net/crew/mhammond/ppw32/
and also available at www.multimania.com/marat/delphi/index.htm)
evolved through a merger of work by Morgan
Martinet,
Dietmar Budelsky, and Grzegorz
Makarewicz. This makes integration of Python and Delphi at the C level almost effortless. PyDelphi includes a Delphi package library that can be installed in the component gallery and a comprehensive set ...
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