Mastering Delphi 5 2025 Annotated Edition Is Now Complete

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Delphi 5 on modern Windows & Win32 compatibility

  • Several commenters expect Delphi 5 apps to still run on Windows 10/11 thanks to Microsoft’s unusually strong Win32 ABI and API stability.
  • Others report real-world issues: older IDEs (e.g., Delphi 6) struggled on Vista/7, often needing UAC tweaks or admin rights; installers using 16‑bit components are a pain on 64‑bit Windows.
  • Problems typically arise from:
    • UAC, Program Files/registry virtualization, and poor old practices (writing user data into the app directory).
    • Use of obsolete components (old COM/ActiveX, .NET 1.1, Win16 installers, multimedia/game APIs).
  • Recompiling Delphi 3/5 era code on modern Delphi usually works with little change; Unicode string transition is the main notable break, but clean string usage mostly survives it.

RAD desktop UI then vs UI now

  • Many view Delphi and VB6 (and WinForms) as the high point of rapid, visual desktop UI development: drag‑and‑drop forms, instant feedback, ahead‑of‑time compiled native apps.
  • Modern web frontends are criticized for “dependency hell” (bundlers, transpilers, huge chains of JS/TS tooling) and fragility when environments change.
  • Counterpoints:
    • Old pixel-based layouts made resizing and localization painful; Java Swing/Qt-style layout managers are cited as an improvement.
    • Others reply Delphi had Align/Anchors and panels, which, used properly, handled resizing reasonably well for the era.
  • Broader frustration that browsers and SPA stacks are a local maximum: dominant but awkward for rich, reactive UIs.

Lazarus, FreePascal, and other Delphi-like options

  • Lazarus + FreePascal are frequently recommended as modern, free Delphi-like tools; language and component model are very close, so most book content should transfer.
  • Some complain about Lazarus UI “jank,” GTK backends, small icons, and clutter; others note alternative backends (Qt, Win32) and stress it’s still very usable.
  • There’s disappointment that Lazarus hasn’t fully embraced mobile; Android support exists via a community project (LAMW), iOS support remains weak.

Annotated book & nostalgia

  • The linked work is confirmed to be a free, annotated “Mastering Delphi 5,” with hundreds of notes on what has changed and what still applies up through Delphi 12.x.
  • Multiple commenters recall learning from earlier editions and using them as reference, and plan to reuse this as de facto documentation for Lazarus or Object Pascal in general.
  • There’s a strong nostalgia thread: memories of Delphi conferences, teen projects, and long-lived Delphi business apps still running decades later.

Cost, ecosystem, and community

  • Some refuse to pay “thousands of dollars” for Delphi today, arguing for a model where the language/SDK is free and only the IDE is paid.
  • Others point to Lazarus/FreePascal (cost: $0) as the practical answer.
  • Experiences with the Delphi community are mixed: one found it toxic enough to push a migration to C#, another found the tools clunky but the community excellent and responsive.

Borland/Delphi history

  • Commenters attribute Borland’s decline partly to unforced strategic errors (trying to compete head‑on with Microsoft in office/apps, over‑pivoting to “enterprise,” mishandled spinoffs) at a critical moment when .NET was rising.
  • Microsoft is portrayed as having fewer major missteps and a long-term commitment to backwards compatibility, which helped its platforms and tooling outlast Borland’s.