Delphi
For years, I developed Line of Business Windows apps with Delphi. My employers didn’t know or care what tool I used. If I told them what I used, it didn’t register, and they soon forgot it. They just cared that the apps worked, and solved the problem at hand. Oh, and they liked getting those apps quickly.
Perhaps it’s just my insecurity, but I feel like people don’t take Delphi (or Delphi developers) very seriously. I feel kind of funny putting it on my resume, and try to emphasize my C# and PHP skills.
I’m actually a bit surprised to see Delphi listed at #10 on the TIOBE Programming Index for August 2010. You certainly don’t see many jobs listed for Delphi. I have to assume that most users are like me - individuals or small shops using a tool they are familiar and productive with.
When I started doing web applications, I briefly considered using Java and JSP, but concluded that PHP (#4 on TIOBE) performed much better. Delphi was never a consideration as I didn’t think putting a Windows server on the internet was a good idea at the time.
I never could see a good reason to switch to Visual Basic, and wasn’t much into Microsoft’s offerings until C# came along. At that point, with .NET gathering steam, the writing was on the wall for Delphi, and I started using C#.NET (#6 on TIOBE) for Windows development. (It’s probably no coincidence that Anders Hejlsberg was the lead architect for both Delphi and C#)
At this point, I don’t think I’ll use Delphi much, except for quick little Win32 utilities, but honestly, it is still easier to whip out a quick little database app with Delphi than it is with C#.
