Delphi in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference - Softcover

Lischner, Ray

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1565926595 ISBN 13: 9781565926592

Publisher: O'Reilly Media, 2000

Synopsis

With a new name and a new focus on CORBA, database drivers, and Microsoft Back Office applications, Inprise/Borland Delphi is enjoying a resurgence, with a growing user base of programmers who use Delphi for rapid development of enterprise computing applications. Not to rest on success, the latest version of Delphi, Version 5, includes further expansion and refinement of the 3-tier application framework introduced in Delphi 4 and has resulted in a prize-winning product.Delphi in a Nutshell is the first concise reference to Borland/Inprise Delphi available. It succinctly collects all the information you need in one easy-to-use, complete, and accurate volume that goes beyond the product documentation itself.Delphi in a Nutshell starts with the Delphi object model and how to use RTTI (Run Time Type Information) for efficient programming. The rest of the book is the most complete Delphi Pascal language reference available in print, detailing every language element with complete syntax, examples, and methods for use. The book concludes with a look at the compiler, discussing compiler directives in depth.

About this title

Review:

Delphi is quite rightly reckoned to be one of the best IDEs (Integrated Development Environments), and ideal for rapid program development thanks to its use of VCL. The Nutshell series are information-dense reference titles, and Delphi In A Nutshell doesn't disappoint.

After a fast tour of Delphi's version of the Pascal language and the files and forms used in the Delphi IDE you get an overview of object oriented programming as it relates to Delphi. There's coverage of of Delphi usage including scheduling, thread synchronisation and so on, then it's on to the language itself. Each language element is named, its syntax and a description with any gotchas noted. There's a tips and tricks section followed by example usage and pointers to related material.

This is a lot to pack in for every Delphi language element. One consequence is the need to limit the examples, which is a pity as they're often the most useful information. At the end of the book the last chapter deals with compiler directives and two appendices cover Delphi's command line tools and the separate but indispensable SysUtils unit. Delphi In A Nutshell isn't the kind of book you read in the bath, but it is one every Delphi programmer should have available when out of it.--Steve Patient

Review:

'... in my view it is the best Delphi Pascal reference around, if only for the great tips and tricks that really are relevant.' - Bob Swart Developers Review, August 2000. "While this not the only book you'll ever need on Delphi, it is likely to be one of the most useful you'll ever buy." Programming, August 2002

About this edition

• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1565926595
• ISBN 13: 9781565926592
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 576