Delphi XE2 and RAD Studio XE2 have arrived

There’s been quite a bit of noise about it of late, and if you have any interest in Delphi you will almost certainly have heard that the new version has come along and has a lot to offer. RAD Studio XE2 is the product that includes Delphi, C++Builder, Delphi Prism (Oxygene for .NET) and RadPHP, Targeting 32-bit and 64-bit Windows and also targeting Apple’s Mac OS X and iOS (i.e. iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch) using the new cross-platform FireMonkey library.
I haven’t yet had much of a chance to explore the new additions to this product so I thought I’d collate a bunch of blog posts and articles/resources on the new release that cover a lot of the major new aspects and so help you know what’s been cooking in the Embarcadero labs over the last year and more.

• Want more... RAD Studio XE2, David Intersimone - http://blogs.embarcadero.com/davidi/2011/08/01/41062
• RAD Studio XE2 a new era for Delphi and C++Builder Developers, Andreano Lanusse - http://www.andreanolanusse.com/en/rad-studio-xe2-a-new-era-for-delphi-and-cbuilder-developers
• RAD Studio XE2 and you, Simon Stuart - http://www.simonjstuart.com/2011/08/02/rad-studio-xe2-and-you
• What’s coming in Delphi RAD Studio XE2: more details of 64-bit and Mac announced, introducing FireMonkey, Tim Anderson - http://www.itwriting.com/blog/4720-whats-coming-in-delphi-rad-studio-xe2-more-details-of-64-bit-and-mac-announced-introducing-firemonkey.html
• A little bit about FireMonkey and Delphi XE2, Andreano Lanusse - http://www.andreanolanusse.com/en/a-little-bit-about-firemonkey-and-delphi-xe2
• Delphi for iOS!, Sean - http://sourceitsoftware.blogspot.com/2011/08/delphi-for-ios.html
• RAD STUDIO XE2: Launch Event Report, Jolyon Smith - http://www.deltics.co.nz/blog/?p=735
• Delphi 64bit, OS X and iPhone native, Jon Aasenden - http://delphimax.wordpress.com/2011/08/04/delphi-64bit-os-x-and-iphone-native
• Delphi XE2 Looks Awesome, czar - http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/content.php?259-Delphi-XE2-Looks-Awesome
• FireMonkey doesn’t necessarily mean “one size fits all”, Simon Stuart - http://www.simonjstuart.com/2011/08/04/firemonkey-doesnt-necessarily-mean-one-size-fits-all
• Video: Delphi XE2 and FireMonkey app on Windows, Mac and iOS, Andreano Lanusse - http://www.andreanolanusse.com/en/video-delphi-xe2-and-firemonkey-app-on-windows-mac-and-ios
• Waiting for Delphi XE2 with excitement, vcldeveloper - http://vcldeveloper.com/news/waiting-for-delphi-xe2-with-excitement
• Embarcadero Reinvents App Development!, Pawel Glowacki - http://blogs.embarcadero.com/pawelglowacki/2011/08/08/39265
• some reflections on #Delphi #FireMonkey support for #iOS based on the #FPC compiler that caused quite a surprise, Jeroen Pluimers - http://wiert.wordpress.com/2011/08/17/some-reflections-on-delphi-firemonkey-support-for-ios-based-on-the-fpc-compiler-that-caused-quite-a-surprise
• Hydra and FireMonkey – Best Friends Forever, Alexander Krakovskii - http://blogs.remobjects.com/blogs/ejay/2011/08/18/p2909
• Embarcadero’s Upcoming Delphi XE2 Is A Game Changer!, David Schwartz - http://thetoolwiz.com/2011/08/embarcaderos-upcoming-delphi-xe2-is-a-game-changer
• FireMonkey Video Beta Blog, Marco Cantu - http://blog.marcocantu.com/blog/firemonkey_betablog_video.html
• RAD Studio XE2 - Breaking out of 32-bit Windows, Lars Fosdal - http://delphi.fosdal.com/2011/08/rad-studio-xe2-breaking-out-of-32-bit.html
• RAD Studio XE2 - VCL and FireMonkey (FMX) first glance comparison, Lars Fosdal - http://delphi.fosdal.com/2011/08/rad-studio-xe2-vcl-and-firemonkey-fmx.html
• In the core of LiveBindings expressions of RAD Studio XE2, Daniele Teti - http://www.danieleteti.it/2011/08/30/in-the-core-of-livebindings-expressions-of-rad-studio-xe2
• Video: Target FireMonkey applications to both Windows and Mac OS X, Embarcadero - http://youtu.be/NzLCGvpGGAg
• Video: Rich HD and 3D Business Applications with FireMonkey, Embarcadero - http://youtu.be/80hfge8NwCE
• Video: VCL Styles in Delphi, C++Builder and RAD Studio XE2, Embarcadero - http://youtu.be/D2wnmm5nnjs
• Delphi XE2: Seamless Mac OS X Builds, Herbert Sauro - http://blog.analogmachine.org/2011/08/31/delphi-xe2-seamless-mac-os-x-builds
• Trial, Datasheet, Feature Matrix and FAQ for XE2 release available, Andreano Lanusse - http://www.andreanolanusse.com/en/trial-datasheet-feature-matrix-and-faq-for-xe2-release-available
• Links to resources about Delphi XE2 and RAD Studio XE2, Pawel Glowacki - http://blogs.embarcadero.com/pawelglowacki/2011/09/02/39298
• What's new In Delphi and C++Builder XE2 - http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/en/What%27s_New_in_Delphi_and_C%2B%2BBuilder_XE2
• FireMonkey iOS Applications - http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/XE2/en/Creating_a_FireMonkey_Application#iOS_Applications

“Project Cooper” launch pencilled in

RemObjects have added the SDN's October 2011 Software Developer Conference (SDC) in Zeist, Netherlands to their events page. The events listed on that page are conferences and events that feature sessions and material on RemObjects products, such as Delphi Prism and the W.I.P. “Project Cooper” (a Delphi Prism-like tool for building, debugging and deploying Java and Android applications).

I mention the SDN Conference in particular because this is where “Project Cooper” will be officially launched. On the evening of Monday, October 3rd I will be delivering the launch presentation, currently entitled: Presenting: Project “Cooper” - The Oxygene Language for Java and Android.

On Tuesday, October 4th I will be giving another two “Project Cooper” sessions, looking at specifics of Java and Android development. These additional sessions are still being worked out and will be made known closer to the conference date.

Oxfam Trailwalker 2011 Post-Event Update

The Trailwalker event eventually came on the weekend of the 16th and 17th July after months of training walks. This post gives a write-up of the event and allows me to extend another heartfelt thank you to all our generous sponsors who have contributed to the great causes we were fundraising for. At the time of writing we have raised a splendid £2873 (or approx. £3482 with Gift Aid factored in). This is tremendous news as we were originally aiming for £1500.

MonoTouch and Mono for Android are back

This post is a little tardy in relation to the news it brings. But in case you missed it, Xamarin have now taken over the MonoTouch and Mono for Android products from Novell/Attachmate and have them available from their site store – so this changes the questionable status over the products that the Attachmate acquisition of Novell brought about.
I guess I’ll have to update my MonoTouch intro tutorial and in-depth tutorial and my Mono for Android intro tutorial, to correct all the links etc.
But it’s great to see Mono development available again for the mobile platforms.
[Edit]
I did indeed update the MonoTouch articles and also update the Mono for Android article.

Microsoft Press free eBooks

I recently bumped into some free eBooks from Microsoft Press covering these subjects:

• Programming Windows Phone 7 – Charles Petzold
• Moving to Visual Studio 2010 (10 chapters) – Patrice Pelland, Pascal Paré, and Ken Haines
• Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 (10 chapters) – Ross Mistry and Stacia Misner
• Understanding Microsoft Virtualization Solutions (6 chapters) – Mitch Tulloch
• Own Your Future: Update Your Skills with Resources and Career Ideas from Microsoft (8 chapters) – Katherine Murray
• Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2 (9 chapters) – Charlie Russel and Craig Zacker
• First Look Microsoft Office 2010 (14 chapters) – Katherine Murray
• Deploying Windows 7: Essential Guidance (10 chapters) – Windows 7 Resource Kit and TechNet

Oxfam Trailwalker 2011 Training Update 2

• Oxfam Trailwalker event page
• Blood, Sweat & Beers team page
• Endurance walk – previous post from 3rd April 2011
• Oxfam Trailwalker 2011 Training Update – previous post from 27th April 2011

Ok, so we’re nearly there.

The Blood Sweat & Beers team has just completed the last of its big training sessions for the Oxfam Trailwalker 2011 endurance walk challenge on July 16th and 17th. We are now in ‘taper time’, keeping active, but doing no more big training sessions.

We will be attempting to walk 100 km (or 62.5 miles) in a little over 24 hours in order to raise funds for Oxfam’s poverty relief work and to support ex-Gurkhas. A while back we set our fundraising goal to be £2000, which delightfully has been met through generous donations, but we are still looking to improve on the total and will appreciate any additional sponsorships.

This post is the final pre-event update to show how our training has come along as we prepared for the big weekend.

“Project Cooper” Mandelbrot set calculation

I’ve had a couple of people ask me on separate occasions to show some “Project Cooper” code. I’ve not posted any thus far, as the product is quite early in its beta cycle and very few people have access to it. When it has matured and is in more hands I have plans to write lots more on the subject, but since I’ve been asked, I thought I’d post a simple project.

The ever-popular Mandelbrot set is the subject of this little demo, and it’s just a simple console application, completely bypassing the Android support, just building an app that runs on the Java VM.