Preface

Lazarus is an open-source integrated development environment for the Free Pascal compiler. Lazarus provides a code editor with syntax-highlighting, a visual form designer, and the Lazarus Component Library (LCL). Lazarus is very similar to Delphi, making it ideal for Delphi programmers to utilize. Because the LCL is highly compatible with Delphi's VCL, existing Delphi projects can be easily converted to Lazarus projects.

Lazarus is cross-platform and runs on many platforms, including Linux, BSD, and Mac OS X. Lazarus applications can be created on one platform and compiled on other supporting platforms, making it suitable for many programming tasks. Besides graphical user interface and console applications, Lazarus can also support web-based applications, Android, and iOS applications.