What version of Delphi has the least amount of bugs throughout history?

[Al T 10]

I’m curious on your answers, cause I might just downgrade to that version. 😊

[Dalija Prasnikar 1353]

It is hard to say which version is the most suitable and most usable because that will always depend on your code. If you are not using particular features then bugs in those features will not have any impact on your work although they may be showstoppers for others.

 

But historically, Delphi 7, 2007, and XE7 were pretty solid releases. 

 

For newer ones, it is hard to say as there are plenty of changes and improvements in various areas, but also some issues. So it really depends on what you are doing.

[Uwe Raabe 1960]

There is also time playing a role here. While Delphi 1 had most likely a pretty low number of bugs, it is not usable in these days at it produces code for 16-bit Windows.

 

Also the often praised Delphi 7 runs pretty unstable in a modern environment. Let alone all those "feel-like-bugs" of none existent behavior.

[dummzeuch 1436]

I have been using 2007 for many years and found it quite stable. Later I switched to 10.2, with only a few projects with XE2 in between. Both were also fine. Since I have got an active subscription, I have tried everything in between and later. I wasn't impressed with 11 and 12. While one of those is necessary if you want to support per monitor DPI, I found the IDEs far from stable, and don't really like using them.

 

So for me it's:

Delphi 5

Delphi 7

Delphi 2007

Delphi 10.2

 

I wouldn't use the first two nowadays any more though.

Edited June 1 by dummzeuch

[Dalija Prasnikar 1353]

15 minutes ago, Uwe Raabe said:

Also the often praised Delphi 7 runs pretty unstable in a modern environment

I had zero problems with Delphi 7 in modern environment. I still have it installed on Win 10. Works like it always did. I even used it in production until few years ago - I have my own installer and to keep it small I used Delphi 7.

[Darian Miller 339]

For historical versions:

Pre-Unicode:   It's very hard to beat Delphi 5 or Delphi 2007

Unicode:  Delphi XE2

 

Delphi 5 is just an amazingly powerful, speedy IDE (but does get quirky with some projects.)   Most would probably choose Delphi 7 over Delphi 5.  I just personally spent a lot more time in Delphi 5.

 

Delphi 2007 is the last version before the internals were changed for Unicode support and it also addressed many of the Delphi 5 IDE quirks with the new "Galileo IDE"    

 

IMHO:  you should try very hard to stay away from the historical releases above and use the latest fully patched version (meaning after the fully patched third point release.)   So, for Windows development, you would need a very strong reason to update from "11.3 with Patch 1" to any 12 release until a patched 12.3 becomes available.   Their major releases are nearly always immediately followed with critical patch(es).  Then, they spend most of the rest of the major release cycle mostly restrained to non-breaking changes so the focus on updates is quality improvements while they bang away on the next major release in the background.

 

For non-Windows development, the very latest release is nearly always the best version to use due to the ongoing platform support requirements.

 

But, for most people, the conversation has to include third party components and which are required to be used and which versions do they support.  If you are highly dependent on third party components, then you would want to use the latest fully patched version that is fully supported by the components you require.

 

[Mark- 27]

15 minutes ago, Darian Miller said:

It's very hard to beat Delphi 5 or Delphi 2007

I stuck with those versions for years.

And sticking with 10.2 for now.

Edited June 1 by Mark-

[Ian Branch 122]

Whilst I have always kept up to date withthe Delphi versions, I have a soft spot for D2007.

[Uwe Raabe 1960]

I always try to get my projects on the most recent versions as soon as they enter a state where I can benefit from the features while being able to tame the defects. The less active a project is, the larger gets the gap between the used version and the recent one. Nevertheless, also these projects are moved to newer versions, albeit on a slower rate.

 

Some customer projects have to stay on older versions, either due to decisions out of my realm or lack of demand for maintenance and enhancements. Whenever either becomes necessary I also try to get this on a newer level. Usually the costs for that cancel out with the higher effort of maintaining it with the older version.

 

Whenever I am forced to work with any of these older versions (mostly D2007 or XE2) I immediately realize why I always prefer to avoid doing so.

[cocobom 0]

10.2 is a better version, my reason is that the later version introduced some optional features, but it did not do a very good job, and some problems have continued several versions until the latest is not solved, I focus on the LSP function, speed and reaction are not as good as the old, which is like a car upgraded power system and appearance, But it turns out the tires are still behind.

[corneliusdavid 161]

As @Dalija Prasnikar said, it'll depend a lot on your code. I work for a company who never upgrade a whole suite of accounting programs from Delphi 5; my primary job is to upgrade them to a newer version of Delphi and I'm very glad because many of the programs actually crash Delphi 5, just sitting there in the IDE, without editing or compiling! I'm sure it's some of the in-house components but there's just so much code and over two decades of history that I just can't wait to get rid of that version and move into a better, more feature-rich IDE with better debugging and newer components. Throughout this process, we're reviewing all the libraries and climbing out of a lot of technical debt. A big part of the change is switching from the BDE to FireDAC--that alone is solving a lot of problems and is a big factor in performance and stability.

 

For my own projects, I have some code in Delphi 7 and XE, those are very stable versions; I prefer Delphi 10.4 and 11 for the IDE features--those are working well for me.

Edited June 2 by corneliusdavid

[JonRobertson 50]

My favorite versions, which has a lot to do with stability, were Delphi 3, 6, and XE2. At a prior position, the company stayed on Delphi 6 for 9 years. Delphi 7 didn't have any benefit for us and then Borland chased the white rabbit down the .NET path... We started migrating with Delphi 2009 but did not have a stable release candidate until Delphi XE2. That was primarily due to switching our product from DCOM DataSnap to dbExpress DataSnap.

 

On 6/1/2024 at 5:24 AM, Dalija Prasnikar said:

I had zero problems with Delphi 7 in modern environment. I still have it installed on Win 10. Works like it always did.

Same here. I currently maintain a few apps that are Delphi 7 projects, and most will likely not be migrated to a newer Delphi. I use Delphi 7 in Windows 10, sometimes several hours a week. Although being used to the functionality of newer IDEs, I get frustrated at the difference in productivity using Delphi 7.

[Vincent Parrett 662]

I don't think there is a correct answer to this question - it all depends on whether you are affected by particular bugs. 

 

I liked Delphi 7 for stabilty back in the day, wasted several years migrating through 2009-XE2, skipped XE3-6 due to major issues, have stuck with XE7 for many years now (not stable, but I have learned to work with it) and more recently migrated through 10.3 to 11.3 (finally able to compile and run with 11.3). In between XE7-11.3 I have wasted a lot of time (and money for versions I am unable to use) trying to migrated our code, only to hit roadblocks - either rtl/vcl issues, or IDE/Debugger issues or failed HighDPI support. Each time I renew my subscription I wonder why, but the lack of upgrade pricing now means I am on this treadmill like everyone else.

[Die Holländer 32]

I'm very happy with 11.3. and have no problems at all doing most of the time database work with FireDac

on MS-SQL servers, reporting and interfaces to financial companies and online API's but I have tried to get

rid of almost all the fancy not native Delphi components and for the others I install and use them only

when I have the sourcecode. The Delphi desktop database applications are running very fast and are very

stable maybe apart from the OLE communication with Word, Excel or Outlook but that is so powerfull

and it doesn't crash the applications.

  

 

[Remy Lebeau 1281]

For me, I spent 20-odd years of my professional career using C++Builder 6 exclusively. It held up quite well for what I needed, and I knew enough of its quirks to work through what didn't. Until about 7 years ago when I changed to a new company that doesn't use Delphi or C++Builder at all.

 

But, for my personal work, XE2 was pretty rock solid. Now I'm using 12.1 and haven't had any problems with it yet, but I haven't pushed it yet either. 

[ioan 45]

7, the most holy number!

[limelect 47]

7 and 10.2

[Lajos Juhász 263]

I would say 24.4

[dummzeuch 1436]

52 minutes ago, Lajos Juhász said:

I would say 24.4

I would not bet on that.

[Lars Fosdal 1752]

None of them.

Old bugs fixed. New bugs are added. Old bugs resurface. Repeat.

[corneliusdavid 161]

18 minutes ago, Lars Fosdal said:

None of them

The question wasn't which version of Delphi has NO bugs, just which one has the fewest. 

[Lars Fosdal 1752]

@corneliusdavid The fewest new ones, or the fewest old ones? 😉

 

[Uwe Raabe 1960]

I would love to see a bug-fixes-only release, but I am realistic enough to put my hopes pretty low. I also know that a lot of complaints about missing new features will be triggered by such a release.