Delphi 1 was first released in 1995. The product extended Borland's Pascal language, with its object-oriented and form-based approach. It was an extremely fast native code compiler, with visual two-way tools and database support. Delphi had close integration with Windows and component technology. The next year, Delphi 2 was released as the world's fastest optimizing 32-bit native-code compiler. It was described as having "the ease of VB, with the power of C++" ("Delphi History"). Development on Delphi continued at a breakneck speed.

Delphi 3 was introduced in 1997, with a variety of new features and enhancements. Code insight technology, component templates, DLL debuggiing, the WebBroker technology, the DecisionCube and TeeChart components, ActiveForms, and integration with COM via interfaces were all new improvements. Delphi 4 was released the next year and included anchoring, docking, and constraining components. New features for Delphi 4 included: dynamic arrays, AppBrowser, Windows 98 support, method overloading, improved COM and OLE support, and extended database support. In 1999, Delphi 5 was released with new features and enhancements. From desktop layouts, parallel development, new Internet capabilities with XML, and more database power, Delphi 5 offered the tool for high productivity development for the increasingly popular Internet ("Delphi History").

Delphi 6 was introduced in 2000, with additional support for cross-platform development. Now the same code could be compiled with Delphi, via Windows, or Kylix, via Linux. Enhancements included support for Web Services, DBExpress, as well as a variety of new components and classes. In 2001, Delphi 7 provided the migration path to Microsoft .NET, with the ability for developers to take their solutions cross-platform to Linux (Doyle). Delphi 8, in 2002, continued...

It supported multiple personalities including Delphi for Win32, Delphi for .NET and C#. Delphi 2006 was also released as part of Borland Developer Studio 2006. Codenamed DeXter, Delphi 2006 includes complete RAD support for Delphi for Win32, Delphi for .NET, C++, and C#. Lastly, Turbo Delphi is a subset of the Borland Developer Studio 2006, for Win32 and .NET development ("Delphi History"). Now owned by Embarcadero, Delphi is certainly to continue revolutionizing development tools.
Conclusion:

Since it's release in 1995, Delphi has forever changed the way developers work. The continuous improvement of the product, over the years, has advanced software development, in numerous ways. It's not surprising that Delphi is one of the most widely used RAD environments. For as Thorpe noted more than a decade ago, if you want to talk to the Oracle, you go to Delphi.

Works Cited

A Brief History of Borland's Delphi. Delphi Basics, 2008. Web. 13 Dec 2009. http://www.delphibasics.co.uk/Article.asp?Name=DelphiHistory.

Delphi. Embarcadero, 2009. Web. 13 Dec 2009. http://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi.

Delphi History. About.com, 2009. Web. 13 Dec 2009. http://delphi.about.com/cs/azindex/a/dhistory.htm.

Doyle, W. "Borland Adds .Net to Delphi 7." Computer Weekly (29 Aug 2002): 22. Web. 13 Dec 2009.

Taft, D. "Borland Revs Delphi for .Net." eWeek 20.45 (10 Nov 2003): 50. Web. 13 Dec 2009.

Thorpe, D. Why…