I refactor your old code for free!

Do you have an old project that still uses AnsiStrings, pointers in arrays or TStringLists, hardcoded typecasts, goto, timers, Application.ProcessMessages, global variables, etc?

Would like to get it up to date, by all modern programming standards, and compatible with 64 bit and the latest Delphi edition? I will do it for free.

What’s the catch?

Amsterdam Delphi Summit 2025

If you have been to the Delphi Summit and we had the chance to talk and I haven’t sent you yet and email back, please drop me an email.
I have contacted some of the people I meet there, but for some others I have lost the contact details.

Hi there!

I’m Gabriel, a seasoned software engineer (MVP) based in EU with over two decades of hands-on experience in both software and hardware. I have a bachelor degree in applied electronics (UPIT) and a Master of Science in Engineering (University of Liverpool). I’ve embarked on a fascinating journey through the ever-evolving programming landscape. My programming odyssey began in 1992 when I put my hands on a Z80 computer. Pascal followed in 1995 and I kept using Delphi until today (Delphi 11). Since then, I’ve traversed multiple programming languages, but Delphi has always been my cherished “home.”

I am interested in all the nitty-gritty aspects of low-level coding, binary files, speed optimizations, memory management, etc.
I am adept of clean, secure and modular code, with zero global variables, zero compiler hints/warnings, zero memory leaks. I develop my own software products under the CI/CD philosophy. Still I am a FreeAndNil-er*.

Back in the 2000s, I developed a popular wallpaper manager in Delphi that reached over 1,000 downloads per day.

I also wrote about 100 visual components (VCL) and quite a bunch of libraries. One of them, the general-purpose Light Saber library, consists of about 300 files and it is distributed with Delphi (via GetIt). The latest addition is an image recognition library, the only one of this kind for Delphi.

In 2006, I switched to the medical field and co-founded a bioinformatics-focused company, specializing in software solutions for molecular biology. We developed over 20 bioinformatics products, all written in Delphi. Our flagship product (close to 400,000 lines of code) was a DNA sequence assembler for Sanger chromatograms.

The software has been sold worldwide and is used by universities, research institutes, hospitals, and government bodies, and has been cited in thousands of scientific articles and over 200 books and patents. For example, one cool place where it was used, is scientific research about storing binary information in the DNA of a bacteria. How great is the technology today?

In the last years I released four Delphi books, but I won’t stop to this number! Two more are under production.

In the free time I build electronic projects with my son, read science fiction, science news and listen to my music and do (looong) bicycle rides.

 

Recent blogs:

  • Is it time to ditch the VCL?

    I’ve seen this trend where AI lacks (compared with other languages) when you try to use it for Delphi (VCL). Probably not their fault. Probably because of lack of code on GitHub…. 😞 Initially, I thought it was only an impression, but later tests (for example, generating a full program with Replit in Delphi and…

  • A vertically collapsible panel for Delphi (round up)

    I was looking for a collapsible panel for many years.The most important feature I want from this control is to be able to collapse vertically. Here are the results of my research:   FoldingPanel (VCL) I used FoldingPanel v1.3  http://www.torry.net/authorsmore.php?id=2386 for years. It comes with nice chevron bitmap too. Advantage: The component comes as a…

  • A bunch of surveys for Delphi users

    Delphi is great for RAD. We all love Delphi, even when we are mad at it. In my opinion Delphi has 3 issues that Embarcadero has to fix in order to make Delphi more attractive. 1. It has ACTIVELY work to bring new Delphi programmers. 2. Solve the problems with the IDE stability 3. Has…

  • Best uses of AI for Delphi programmers

    I haven’t nailed down a favorite AI yet. Copilot’s at the bottom of my list—it churns out the worst Delphi code and gives answers so short they’re borderline useless. Grok’s been the frontrunner so far, based on my own tinkering. I had subscriptions to Google’s AI and to ChatGPT and Copilot. In some video presentations…

  • Can’t load package xyz.bpl. %1 is not a valid Win32 application – BPL dependency failure

    Locating BPL dependency failure   In one instance my package required another package, but its BPL was not present. The error I got was “Can’t load package xyz.bpl. %1 is not a valid Win32 application”. I used the Dependency scanner feature from ‘PE Explorer’ ( www.heaventools.de ) to detect this. There was supposed to be…

  • Again on FreeAndNil – A meaningless debate?

    Recently, I came across a forum where somebody described FreeAndNil as an “abomination” and I think that’s a bit over the top. Let’s unpack this topic ca refully, with technical clarity and an eye for proportion. FreeAndNil(SomeObject) is just syntactic sugar for: if SomeObject <> nil then begin SomeObject.Free; SomeObject := nil; end; The actual…

 

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