Presentation av examensarbete för högskoleingenjörsexamen

Abstract

The purpose of the thesis is to evaluate Delphi’s claims of being a well-suited choice for beginner programmers, which will be performed by relatively comparing it to other established environments and languages to see potential differences and similarities in order to see if their claims have any truth behind them.

To assess Delphi as a beginner programming language, it will be compared relatively to three other programming languages, namely Python, Java and C#. Four main aspects of each language were looked into, the first one was the readability, the second writability, the third covers community support and finally how easily understandable the official documentation is. It is important to know that IDEs have been left out of the evaluation.
These four characteristics were used as fundamentals when performing the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) in order to find the most suitable language for a beginner. The results were clear, Python was the most suitable language for a beginner, C# was the second most suitable, Java a close third and finally Delphi. In relation to Python, C# and Java, Delphi is the least suitable language
for a beginner.

Firstly this thesis work should not be considered as only an assessment of the programming language Delphi, instead it can be looked upon as a method or guide on how to evaluate a programming language relatively given some parameters to compare it to.
Secondly, the purpose of this thesis is an important one, the demand on engineers and programmers keeps on growing. Therefore the research on suitable languages that can be used in the education of these people needs to keep ongoing in order to find a language that can provide all the necessary concepts in an easy to understand without sacrificing anything.

Keywords
Delphi, Analytic hierarchy process, Relative grading, Java, Python, C#