Programming in D for Delphi Programmers

Fundamental syntax changes

Delphi and Pascal comes from another language family than D.

Types equivalence

Pascal	D	notes
Pointer	void*
Byte	ubyte	8 bit unsigned integer. note the ambiguity when coming from Pascal.
ShortInt	byte	8 bit signed integer
Word	uint16	16 bit unsigned integer
SmallInt	int16	16 bit signed integer
DWord / Cardinal	uint	32 bit unsigned integer
Integer	int	32 bit signed integer
UInt64	ulong	64 bit unsigned integer
Int64	long	64 bit signed integer
Single	float
Double	double
NativeUInt	size_t	in both case this is either an alias to a unsigned 32 bit integer or to a unsigned 64 bit integer
NativeInt	ptrdiff_t	in both case this is either an alias to a signed 32 bit integer or to a signed 64 bit integer

The object model

The object model is striclty equivalent. Multiple inherithence of classes is not allowed but can be achieved with interfaces.

• Delphi, Pascal

type  ISome = interfaca
    procedure blah();
end;

type TThing = class
end;

type  TSomething = classs(TThing, ISome)
  procedure blah();
end;

• The D2 way:

interface ISome(){
    void blah();
}

class TThing{
}

class TSomething: TThing, ISome{
    void blah(){}
}

Templates

Traditional Delphi and Pascal didn’t supported templates. Delphi supports them since D2009, using the most common syntax: the left/right angle brackets (declaration and instantciation of a template).

D uses parens for the declaration and the ! symbol for the instantiation. Parens are used after the ! if the template expect several parameters.

• Delphi or FPC with the dialect {$Mode Delphi}

type foo<T,G,A> = class
end;
  
type fooccc = class(foo<char, char, char>)
end;
    
var
  bar: foo<integer,single,double>;

• FPC with the dialect {$Mode objfpc} (aka modern Pascal)

In the Pascal tradition, the objfpc syntax recquires two explicit keywords for the template declaration and the template instantiation: generic and specialize:

type generic foo<T,G,A> = class
end;

type fooccc = class(specialize foo<char, char, char>)
end;

var
  bar: specialize foo<integer,single,double>;

• the D2 way:

class foo(T,G,A){
}
   
alias fooccc = foo!(char, char, char);
   
foo!(int, float, double) bar;

Conditional compilation

D conditional compilation is one of the unique feature of the lanquage. While in Pascal you used a custom definition like this:

a := a shr 3;
{$IFDEF MYSWITCH}
  // some conditionally compiled code
{$ENDIF}

in D the equivalent use a standard language construct version(Identifier):

a =>> 3;
version(MYSWITCH)
{
    // some conditionally compiled code   
}

But now you’ll get more. A feature that doesn’t exist in Pascal and Delphi is the static if expression. It allows a more advanced conditional compilation, particularly in the templates, since it’s allow to test the type of a template parameters when it gets instanciated.

struct foo(T)
{
    // something is only compiled if T type is string.
    static if (is(T == string)){
    void something(){}
    }
    
}

This is also related to the template constraints (the constraint is applied to the whole template while in our previous example it’s only applied to the enclosed expressions). You might know the principle if you’ve used Delphi XE6 or upper.

Inclusion

D has a feature similar to Pascal/delphi source inclusion.

for the example the following inclusion:

procedure Something;
begin
{$IFDEF DEMO}
  {$I myDemoImplementation.inc}
{$ELSE}
  {$I myFullImplementation.inc}
{$ENDIF}
end;

is rewritten in D

void something()
{
    static enum demoCode = import(myDemoImplementation.d);
    static enum fullCode = import(myFullImplementation.d);
    version(DEMO){
        mixin(demoCode);
    } else {
        mixin(fullCode);
    }
}

RTTI, published attribute and properties.

In Pascal and Delphi, the Runttime Type Informations (RTTI) are an important feature used by the TPersistent and the TComponent system, as well as for custom serialization or for software settings or even Object dumping into a database.

D has no equivalent feature. The published attribute does not exist but instead you have some compile-time reflection (traits, std.traits, user defined attributes) which could be used to design a similar system.

Pascal properties are deeply linked to the RTTI mechanisms. D properties are a bit different and even more powerfull. They allow to use the assign operator instead of calling the setter with parens (so far this is a common behaviour) but they also can be overloaded.

A classic, non published, Pascal property (interface section only):

private
  FField: integer;
  procedure SetField(AValue: Integer);
public
  property Field: integer read FField write SetField;

The D equivalent, with overload:

private:
    int fField;
public:
    @property void field(int aValue){fField = aValue;}
    @property void field(string aValue){fField = to!int(aValue); }
    @property int field(){return fField;}