Embarcadero Ships RAD Studio 2010

Embarcadero Technologies has released Embarcadero RAD Studio 2010 which includes new versions of former Borland and CodeGear products such as Delphi, and C++Builder as well  as Delphi Prism.

Embarcadero's enhancements to Delphi, C++Builder and Delphi Prism provide developers with new tooling capability for building native Windows and .NET applications. In addition, RAD Studio 2010 provides developers with new capabilities for delivering interactive touch and gesture-based interfaces for new or existing applications. The company also provided more than 120 new and enhanced features to increase developer productivity for native Windows and .NET application development.

“Affordable hardware availability and user demand for natural input on netbooks, touchpads, and kiosks is outpacing touch-enhanced application availability,” said Michael Swindell, vice president of products at Embarcadero Technologies, in a statement. “Delphi and C++Builder 2010 make the transition to new technologies, like touch, seamless for developers. RAD Studio 2010 is a wise investment because it gives developers the functionality needed to continually stay ahead of the curve while using fewer resources and minimizing re-work.”

Embarcadero has improved on the Delphi and C++Builder tools that the company attained in its acquisition of Borland's CodeGear unit in May of 2008.

“Companies need every advantage they can get in order survive and ultimately thrive in today’s economy,” said Al Hilwa, program director, Application Development Software at market research firm IDC. “Investing in tools to accelerate application development is a smart move, particularly for applications that can work with and enhance a variety of systems and offer more intuitive touch-based interfaces to make end users more productive. This major upgrade to the RAD Studio family demonstrates that Embarcadero’s commitment to the CodeGear line of application development tools it acquired from Borland remains strong.”

Key RAD Studio 2010 enhancements include the new touch and gesture capabilities that enable developers to build modern, interactive touch-based GUI, tablet, touchpad and kiosk applications with a flexible touch-enabled component framework that is easy to use and works on Windows 7 as well as Windows 2000, XP and Vista platforms, the company said.

In addition, Embarcadero has extended database connectivity with new, first-time support for the popular open-source Firebird database plus updated drivers for Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle and MySQL, the company said. The enhanced DataSnap multi-tier framework allows for broader access to industry standard communication protocols, including new JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) and Representational State Transfer (REST) that enable interoperability with other services.

The upgraded tool set also features developer productivity improvements such as new IDE Insight tool that helps find files, components, features and settings using simple keystrokes and search terms. The tools also include a code formatter; C++ Class Explorer; and numerous debugger enhancements, Embarcadero officials said.

For its part, Embarcadero also has provided developers with new language and compiler enhancements such as new background compilation for Delphi and C++Builder, Attributes and RTTI (Run-Time Type Information) for the Delphi language, new draft C++0x language support and updated Boost, STL and TR1 libraries in C++Builder; and Aspect Oriented Programming (AOP) in Delphi Prism, the company said.

Robert Love, a longtime Delphi user and beta tester of RAD Studio 2010, said, “The enhanced RTTI and attributes have allowed me to build dynamic reusable libraries to solve real world problems,” Love, a software developer and Contributions Automated Tax System (CATS) team supervisor for the Utah State Government, added, “I am sure it has saved us hundreds of hours of time.”