Welcome to the first chapter of this book! We are at the beginning of a journey to gain knowledge about a great application framework, that is, the FireMonkey (FMX) framework. These days, developers face a hard-to-solve problem—building effective cross-platform applications. From a project management point of view, one of the most wanted features is to achieve this goal through a single source code base, not, for example, having a different code base for each supported platform.
The introduction of the FireMonkey framework represented a crucial point, putting Embarcadero Delphi in a magic spot in the global software development scenario. Developers are enabled to design and build native applications for the most popular platforms, including both desktop (Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Apple OS X, now also known as macOS) and mobile (Google Android and Apple iOS), using a single toolset and language (thus reducing the effort needed).
This chapter will go through the following topics, to provide some background about what FMX is, why it was created, and its most evident strengths:
- Approaching FireMonkey
- Abstracting the visual part of your apps
- Looking beyond the UI
- Back to the metal
- Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the FMX approach
After reading this chapter, you will be familiar with the general context in which this framework has been developed, including a general understanding of the underlying philosophy of the chosen approach.