[lpcvoid]

Delphi is still the absolute fastest way to create win32 gui applications, and anybody who disagrees has never used it.

Lazarus is a pretty sweet solution on Linux (or Codetyphoon, if you want more out of the box components).

[CodesInChaos]

I think C#'s WinForms is just as productive as Delphi's VCL. Unfortunately Microsoft abandoned it. Though I only used older versions of Delphi, so I don't know if recent improvements made it pull ahead.

However both have limitations in more complex areas, such as rich text (html), data binding and targeting mobile and desktop with a mostly shared code-base.

[cosmotic]

WinForms isn't Win32, and it's still supported.

[pjmlp]

Like MFC, it is a thin layer over Win32.

[HauntingPin]

What's the relationship between Delphi and Lazarus?

[KronisLV]

Delphi is commercial: https://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi/product-editions

Lazarus is free with no artificial limitations, for FreePascal: https://www.lazarus-ide.org/

[utopcell]

It's a Delphi-compatible IDE: https://www.lazarus-ide.org/

[tonyedgecombe]

Pascal

[pjmlp]

I disagree, because C++ Builder also exists. :)

Although .NET also follows along, pity that it took so many years for Microsoft to actually care about native compilation beyond NGEN.

[OCTAGRAM]

Did .NET manage to get rid of unsolicited tracing garbage collection?

[pjmlp]

Depends on how you write program, there are enough language features for low level coding and value types.

Additionally lets not pretend Delphi doesn't have issues with memory and resources tracking.

Even the whole reference counting support only applies to COM types, or when targeting Apple platforms.

Which have had various changes to their behaviour across Delphi version.

Other than that it is as it has always been since Turbo Pascal days.

[baal80spam]

Is it? What about Autohotkey, or Visual Studio?

[mauriciolange]

Two very different solutions. Autohotkey is a scripting language for specific tasks, while Delphi is unbounded in this sense. And Visual Studio has no RAD concept.

[sumnole]

Visual Studio has WinForms, which is pretty RAD.

[NetMageSCW]

And I think preferable to the XML split of code and GUI that is web like and how Microsoft’s other frameworks work.

[anakaine]

It is absolutely preferable in that sense. The web-esq interface approach is far harder than it needs to be for small applications with basic interfaces.