Delphi versions

Delphi comes in different versions, so before downloading the installer, we need to decide which version to choose. There are four Delphi versions--Starter, Professional, Enterprise, and Architect:

• The Starter version is the simplest one and it does not contain features necessary for doing mobile development. This version is aimed at hobbyists, students, and in general for anyone that just wants to learn Delphi. Starter supports building application for Windows 32-bit only. That's not what we need.
• The next version is Professional. It also does not contain features for mobile development, but they can be installed separately in the form of mobile add-on packs. The Professional is a good choice if you plan to build applications for Windows and you do not need the possibility to connect to remote databases.
• The third version is Enterprise. This is the full version of Delphi and contains everything that is in the Professional plus more. It allows you to create apps for all supported mobile and desktop platforms including Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, and Linux. It also contains the DataSnap framework for building scalable, multitier systems that is not available in Professional edition. This is the version of Delphi that we are going to use in this book.
• The highest Delphi version is Architect. This is a product bundle that contains Delphi Enterprise and separately installed ER/Studio Developer Edition for modeling relational SQL databases and DB Power Studio Developer Edition that contains tools for working with SQL databases.

Delphi is available as a standalone product, but it can also be used as part of RAD Studio. RAD Studio contains Delphi and C++Builder. Delphi and C++Builder are two different IDE personalities of RAD Studio and both can be installed from the same RAD Studio installer into one deeply integrated environment. Both products, Delphi and C++Builder, provide the same capabilities of building mobile and desktop apps for different operating systems from the same source code using visual designers, and share the same component libraries, but differ in the programming language being used. Delphi uses Object Pascal and C++Builder uses standard C++.

I'm trying as much as possible to make sure that this book is not tied to any particular Delphi version. However, it is important to pay attention to which version of different pieces of software we are using.

In this book, we are going to use Delphi 10.2 Tokyo Enterprise edition. Delphi is produced by Embarcadero and you can find more information about different Delphi versions and features on the Embarcadero Delphi home page (http://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi). You can get Delphi directly through the Embarcadero website or through one of many partner companies that represent Embarcadero in different countries. After purchasing Delphi, you will receive an automatically generated email with the download link to the Delphi installer and the serial number that you will need during the installation.