FAQ -- Frequently Asked Questions

What is Lazarus?

Lazarus is a Delphi compatible cross-platform IDE for Rapid Application Development.

Lazarus is "open-source", it's free. It builds on the Free Pascal compiler, by adding an integrated development environment (IDE) that includes a syntax-highlighting code editor and visual form designer. The Lazarus Component Library (LCL) includes equivalents for many of the familiar Delphi VCL controls such as forms, buttons, text boxes and so on.

What's the difference with the free Delphi Starter edition?

(to be completed)

Database...

Third party components...

What is Free Pascal?

Free Pascal (FPC) is an open-source Pascal compiler with two notable features: a high degree of Delphi compatibility and availability on a variety of platforms, including Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Free Pascal's compatibility with Delphi includes not only support for the same Object Pascal programming language that Delphi uses, but also for many of the same libraries of powerful routines and classes that Delphi is justly known for.

What is the meaning of the various file extensions

(to be completed)

Why is the generated exe-file so big?

The binaries are big because they include a lot of debug information. The "debugger" uses the extra-information stored in your binary to test it. But once your program is working well, you may delete those infos and reduce the size of the binaries:

Project|Compiler Options|Code|Smart Linkable (-CX) -> Checked
Project|Compiler Options|Linking|Debugging| Uncheck all except Strip Symbols From Executable (-Xs)
Project|Compiler Options|Linking|Link Style|Link Smart (-XX) -> Checked

Can I add third party components?

(to be completed)

A few examples of free component suites:

Eye Candy Controls (shortly ECControls or EC-Controls) are set of visual controls.