TABLE OF CONTENTS The C++ language is undoubtedly the most commonly employed tool for professional programmers. It produces object code that is fast and efficient, and because of its numerous low-level features, it bestows to the programmer considerable direct control over the hardware of the computer system. Unfortunately, it is also rather cryptic, so it is much harder to understand what a C++ program is trying to do than a Pascal program, especially if someone else wrote it. In contrast, Delphi is a visual programming system that uses Pascal as the base language. Pascal is very readable, and the more you use it, the more intuitive it becomes. Pascal is often referred to as a highly structured or procedurally based language. Programs are written in modular fashion, with specific operations being contained within code blocks termed procedures or methods (equivalent to subroutines in other languages). Procedurally based languages assist the programmer to write programs in an ordered fashion, which in turn facilitates the debugging of code since the logical flow is always easier to follow. Moreover, this frequently improves the efficiency of the program respecting process speed and memory requirements.
Like Visual C++, Delphi is a programming system that allows you to develop professional-looking Windows programs, but in this case with unparalleled ease. In fact, many commercial Windows packages are coded using a mixture of Delphi to create the visual user interface (the so-called front end) and C or C++ routines for the processing that are invoked...
