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Delphi

Specialty Definition: Delphi

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Specialty Definition: Delphi

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

This is about the city of Delphi. See for the programming language by the same name Delphi programming language. For the forecasting method by the same name see Delphi method.

Temple of Apollo at Delphi. (large version)

Delphi is a city of ancient Greece, home to the Delphic Oracle, dedicated to the god Apollo and inhabited by the nymph Cassotis, which was revered throughout the ancient world. The ancient Greeks considered Delphi the centre of the universe.

Delphi was located in a plateau on the side of Mt. Parnassus. This semicircular spur is known as Phaedriades; it overlooks the Pleistos Valley. Southwest of Delphi, about 15 km away, is the harbor-city of Kirrha in the Corinthian Gulf.

The name "Delphi" probably stems from Delphinios, an epithet for Apollo stemming from his connection to dolphins. Apollo allegedly came to Delphi with Cretan priests on the backs of dolphins. According to another legend, Apollo walked to Delphi from the north and stopped at Tempe, a city in Thessaly to pick laurel, a plant sacred to him. In commemoration of this legend, the winners at the Pythian Games received a laurel wreath picked in Tempe.

Delphi was the site of a major temple to Phoebus Apollo, as well as the Pythian Games and a famous oracle.

As a young man, Apollo killed the vicious dragon Python, which lived in Delphi beside the Castalian Spring, according to some because Python had attempted to rape Leto while she was pregnant with Apollo and Artemis. This was the spring which emitted vapors that caused the Oracle at Delphi to give her prophesies. Apollo killed Python but had to be punished for it, since Python was a child of Gaia. The shrine dedicated to Apollo was probably originally dedicated to Gaia and then Poseidon. The oracle at that time predicted the future based on the lapping water and leaves rustling in the trees.

The first oracle at Delphi was commonly known as Sibyl, though her name was Herophile. She sang her predictions, which she received from Gaia. Later, "Sibyl" became a title given to whichever priestess manned the oracle at the time. The Sibyll sat on the Sibylline Rock, breathing in vapors from the ground and gaining her often puzzling predictions from that. Pausanias claimed that the Sibyl was "born between man and goddess, daughter of sea monsters and an immortal nymph". Others said she was sister or daughter to Apollo. Still others claimed the Sibyll received her powers from Gaia originally, who passed the oracle to Thetis, who passed it to Phoebe.

This oracle exerted considerable influence across the country, and was consulted before all major undertakings -- wars, the founding of colonies, and so forth. She also was respected by the semi-Hellenic countries around the Greek world, such as Macedonia, Lydia, Caria, and even Egypt. Croesus of Lydia consulted Delphi before attacking Persia, and according to Herodotus received the answer "if you do, you will destroy a great empire." Croesus found the response favorable and attacked, and was utterly overthrown.

The oracle is also said to have proclaimed Socrates the wisest man in Greece, to which Socrates said that if so, this was because he alone was aware of his own ignorance. In the 3rd century A.D., the oracle (perhaps bribed) declared that the god would no longer speak there.

The temple to Apollo at Delphi was built by Trophonius and Agamedes.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Delphi."

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Delphi programming language

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Delphi is a programming language and software development environment. It is produced by Borland (known for a time as Inprise). The Delphi language, formerly known as the Object Pascal Language (the Pascal with object-oriented extensions) originally targeted only Microsoft Windows, but now builds native applications for Linux and the Microsoft .NET Framework as well (see below).

Its most popular use is the development of desktop and enterprise database applications, but as a general purpose development tool it is capable of and used for most types of development projects. It was one of the first of what came to be known as RAD tools, for Rapid Application Development, when released in 1995. Delphi 2, released a year later, supported 32-bit Windows environments, and a C++ version, C++Builder, followed a few years after. In 2001 a Linux version known as Kylix (a classical Greek urn) became available. With one new major release every year, in 2002, the product became known as Delphi 7 Studio, the language became known officially as Delphi instead of Object Pascal, and support for Linux (through Kylix) and .NET (through a preview compiler) were added. Full support for .NET is scheduled for the forthcoming Delphi 8.

The main components of Delphi and Kylix are the Delphi language (formally known as the Object Pascal language), the VCL/CLX (Visual Component Library), and strong database connectivity, combined with a powerful IDE (Integrated Development Environment) and additional support tools.

The remarkable features of the Delphi language include:

• Transparent handling of objects as references/pointers
• Properties as part of the language, that is member getters and setters which transparently encapsulate the access to member fields
• Index Properties and Default Properties which provide access to collections in a comfortable and transparent way
• Delegates aka type safe method pointers which are used to wire the events triggered by the components
• Delegation of interface implementation to a field or property of the class
• Easy implementation of Windows message handlers by tagging a method of a class with the number/name of the windows message to handle

Most of the features listed above were introduced in Delphi first and adapted in other languages later.

The chief architect behind Delphi, and its predecessor Turbo Pascal, was Anders Hejlsberg until he left for Microsoft in 1996.

The Delphi product is distributed as various suites, each offering more functionality over the other:

• Personal
• Professional
• Enterprise
• Architect

Compelling reasons to use Delphi:

• A very informative and helpful community with an excellent noise/informations ratio at news://forums.borland.com or http://info.borland.com/newsgroups/ng_delphi.html
• Can compile to a single executable, simplifying distribution and reducing dll versioning issues
• VCL and 3rd-party components are usually available with full sourcecode
• Powerful and quick optimizing compiler
• Multiple platform native code from the same source code
• Support for latest technology and standards

External Links:

• http://www.borland.com/delphi/
• http://delphi.icm.edu.pl/
• http://www.drbob42.com/
• http://www.torry.net/
• http://www.delphipages.com/
• http://www.delphi3000.com/
• http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Programming/Languages/Delphi/

Clones and alternatives

While not being a direct substitute for the entire product Delphi itself, there are a number of efforts that strive to be more or less language compatible and take Delphi code to places where Delphi and Kylix itself can't reach.

These can get you the extra mile to get your costly Delphi code running in ways not possible with Delphi (think Operating Systems, free distribution and educational use, examining compiler source etc). These seem to be used the most educationally and to get the server parts of Delphi apps running on non mainstream operating systems (with most having Linux support predating Kylix for years)

• Free Pascal A commandline compiler substitute that aims source compability with the core feature set of both the Turbo Pascal and Delphi dialects. Features of Delphi versions beyond 4 are implemented and working but not yet formally released. Operates on most x86 operating systems including Win32, Dos (with extender), Linux, *BSD, OS/2 and Novell Netware. Supports some other OSes on m68k and PowerPC family, the status of which is still changing fast so not reproduced here. Work on SPARC has started.

• GNU Pascal (Separately distributed part of the GNU Compiler Collection) While formally not aimed at the Borland dialects of Pascal, it does contain a Borland Pascal compability mode, and is slowly absorbing Delphi language features, though not yet directly suitable for recompiling large bodies of Delphi code. It is the most prolific compiler in terms of Operating Systems and processors though, and therefore deserves mentioning as a last resort.

• There is a tool called Pocket Studio which aims to compile stripped down Delphi code to PDA's. The website was down at the time of writing this article, but I heard good comments about it.

• Virtual Pascal is a x86 32-bit Turbo Pascal and Delphi compatible compiler mainly aimed at OS/2 and Windows, though it developed a DOS+Extender and an experimental Linux cross-compiler too. The compiler is stuck on the level of about Delphi V2, and the site hasn't changed significantly in two years though, but of the free alternatives, it is still the one with the best polished IDE and debugger though Free Pascal is getting nearer and nearer.

• BloodShed distributes a very polished graphical Win32 editor (though not RAD) as a frontend for both GNU Pascal and Free Pascal.

• Lazarus is an effort to build an RAD on top of Free Pascal. While the GTK port is getting usable for smaller applications like configuration tools, the win32 port still needs a considerable amount work.

• InnerFuse is a Delphi interpreter for embedding in applications. It is rumoured to work with several of the alternatives too.

• WDOSX is a win32 api emulating DOS extender that can be used to get Delphi console applications running on plain DOS.

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Delphi programming language."

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Delphi, Indiana

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Delphi is a city located in Carroll County, Indiana. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 3,015. The city is the county seat of Carroll County⁶.

Geography

Delphi is located at 40°35'15" North, 86°40'18" West (40.587461, -86.671638)¹. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 6.6 km² (2.6 mi²). 6.6 km² (2.6 mi²) of it is land and none of it is covered by water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there are 3,015 people, 1,161 households, and 748 families residing in the city. The population density is 454.7/km² (1,179.3/mi²). There are 1,241 housing units at an average density of 187.2/km² (485.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 92.57% White, 0.13% African American, 0.20% Native American, 0.27% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 5.87% from other races, and 0.96% from two or more races. 12.17% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 1,161 households out of which 31.1% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.0% are married couples living together, 7.6% have a female householder with no husband present, and 35.5% are non-families. 31.3% of all households are made up of individuals and 17.1% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.50 and the average family size is 3.13. In the city the population is spread out with 25.9% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 29.6% from 25 to 44, 18.9% from 45 to 64, and 17.4% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 35 years. For every 100 females there are 96.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 90.9 males. The median income for a household in the city is $34,388, and the median income for a family is $45,878. Males have a median income of $31,360 versus $18,575 for females. The per capita income for the city is $16,703. 13.4% of the population and 7.4% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 21.9% are under the age of 18 and 6.0% are 65 or older.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Delphi, Indiana."

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Abbreviations & Acronyms: Delphi

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Modern Usage: Delphi

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Commercial Usage: Delphi

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Image Slideshow: Delphi

Photos: Delphi More pictures...

Illustrations: Delphi More pictures...

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Photo Album: Delphi

Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Delphi, the theater. Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

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Digital Photo Gallery: Delphi
 

"Delphi cinema" by MICHAEL HOMBURG CLAN.DREI Commentary: "Cinema in berlin."

Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers.

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Use in Literature: Delphi

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Non-Fiction Usage: Delphi

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Usage Frequency: Delphi

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Derived & Related Names: Delphi

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Usage in Company Names: Delphi

Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.

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Cities: Delphi

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Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.