Lazarus is a programming environment used to write open source programs. It is based on the Free Pascal compiler with IDE add-ons which allow to develop cross-platform applications in a Delphi-like environment. It is used for creating all kinds of programs such as console applications, dynamic linking libraries, GUI programs and others.
Lazarus Features
Lazarus has in its base a code corrector with hinting and auto-completion facilities, a volume designer and its own Lazarus Component Library which goes very well with the Delphi VCL library. The LCL Component Library has alternatives for controls from the Delphi Visual Component Library (text fields, forms, buttons, etc.). This makes it easy for Delphi programmers to switch from one syntax to another.
Lazarus also supports a large number of Pascal syntaxes such as Turbo Pascal, Object Pascal, Delphi and Mac Pascal.
It can easily move graphical user interfaces written in Delphi to different operating systems like FreeBSD, Linux, Mac OS and other Unix-like systems.
The development environment supports two styles of Assemler code - AT&T and Intel, and its editor and interface are built entirely on 8-bit text encoding that eliminates the problems associated with adapting code containing national characters.
