Product Description
This unique book presents Delphi programming in logical, easy-to-follow sequences that have made the Teach Yourself series a bestseller. The reader begins learning the basics of Delphi and then moves on to more advanced topics.-Guides the reader through a system for learning a programming language in a set period of time-Question & answer sections answer the most commonly asked questions-Includes a detailed study of looping, records, arrays, branching, data manipulation, and more ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Good book for those who already know Visual Basic and Pascal
If you already know Turbo/Object Pascal and Visual Basic, this is an excellent starting point.This book will give you an overview of the capabilities and power of Delphi as well as general information on Windowsbasics such as DLL's and threads.It does not, however, serve as yourstep-by-step tutorial on Pascal or Delphi (If you're looking for it--go seethe online documentation).

Not for beginners
One of the worst introductory books I've seen. There are many unrelated windows/OOP topics in the first week. When teaching you the programming, I found the difficulty level is poorly handled. In the first day of real programming, you are taught threads! For a beginner, you have to learn many of the common components by yourself, the book doesn't help you much. The authors claimed to be VB programmers too. They should have read 'Teach yourself VB 5 in 21 days' and 'Teach yourself C++ in 21 days' before starting to write.

Frustrating!
I got this book as part of a Delphi class I took.We spent far too much time struggling with the typos in the code examples and the code that just plain didn't work!I am very new to programming, with a bit of VB4 experience, and found this book very skimpy on the basics of Object Pascal. I wanted more exercises, at least ones that worked.I'd suggest looking elsewhere for an intro book to Delphi

Good Beginner Book
I found this book to be helpful as a way to learn a little about everything in Delphi.I realize that a book would have to be several thousand pages to cover all that Delphi does, so I knew this was a 'taste' of it. It was much better written than the documentation form Borland.I would recommend this book as a way to 'get going' with delphi. Sam's should have included the source code on disk/CD-ROM, but I found it at ftp://ftp.mcp.com/pub/sams/books/TYDELPHI2/tde2src.zip, and that helped

Authors shoot themselves in foot. Book limps along.
This was the second second Delphi book I purchased. I religiously went through it for 3 to 4 weeks and tried every example. Unfortunately, they didn't all work. This became very frustrating because the book did not come with a CD-Rom and I had to type the code in by hand. I eventually found the publisher's web page and spent time downloading the sample code (what there was of it) from their web page. Some of the code still didn't work! I contacted one of the authors (Dan Osier) and his reply was "I will look into this and get back to you ASAP!". That was 11 months ago. Needless to say I'm not holding my breath.

Now I'm not going to beat up this book as much as the other reviewers because it does have some good points. It does a good job on multi-media like playing AVI files and it has a terrific 3D rotating cube example that is really mind boggling to watch. This book covers graphics more than most Delphi books I've read and if you're interested in graphics then maybe this book is for you. The book also does a good job covering file I/O on DOS text files, writing simple but fast reports using the Pascal language, and OLE.

The rest of the book, with topics on databases, SQL, Interbase, ReportSmith were lightly covered. None of them would make you an expert by any stretch of the imagination. They are only there to whet your appetite.

It's more of an intro book to Delphi 2. After you finish reading it, you'll be asking yourself "Is that all there is?". At least I asked myself that. After 3 weeks of typing, I came away feeling "Where's the rest of it?".

This book does have some good points but is marred by sample code that doesn't work, no CD-Rom, and it has 3 authors so the book has no real direction. Who is it for? It has far too much emphasis on graphics in the beginning of the book and too little emphasis on databases for it to be useful to someone who wants to use Delphi to create database applications. It is a Jack-of-all-trades and master of none.

If someone is having a fire sale and offered you this book for $10-$15, then I'd say buy it because it has a few topics that are explained quite well. But if my house was on fire, this book wouldn't be the first thing I'd grab.

Instead I'd recommend Marco Cantu's "Mastering Delphi 2" if you want to learn the Delphi language, or Ken Henderson's book "Database Developer's Guide with Delphi 2" if you want to know how to create database applications in Paradox and Interbase. Both of these books offer much more "bang-for-your-buck"

Barry McClure ... Read more

Product Description
"Borland Secret" is a highly capable development tool for Windows software, particularly in light of its basis in the Pascal language, and its integrated, easy-to-use environment. This book provides an ideal self-guided tour of "Borland Secret" and helps readers develop good programming habits at the same time. Disk reproduces the examples in the book, and provides "pre fab" code blocks for reader use. ... Read more

Product Description
Delphi is a front end development tool that is Borland's answer to Visual Basic. This book is for the programmers who will upgrade to Delphi when it is released. It takes the programmer through the concepts and features of Delphi in the fastest possible way--showing how Object Pascal fits into the new Delphi framework, and how to create great applications fast. ... Read more

Product Description
This new edition offers complete coverage of the new 32-bit version of Delphi. Developers will get everything they need to know to build powerful programs with a minimum of development time. Everything is covered in this detailed programmer's guide--the Delphi programming environment, Object Pascal, SQL programming techniques, the Visual Component Library, and the new support for OCX controls. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

An excellent reference guide for Delphi 2.
This is a must have for Delphi programmers. It is chalked full of useful code. It is concise and to the point which makes it a great reference book.

The best guide for non-professional programmers using Delphi
As an environmental engineer, I use Delphi to develop standalone applications to access and analyze large water supply data bases.I have over 30 years experience developing and using water quality and quantitymodels in everything from FORTRAN to Delphi.

Of all the Delphi books Ihave used, this one is the most readable for the non-professionalprogrammer, using a minimum of jargon and less focused on businessapplications.It has never failed to provide the hint I needed to moveahead on a programming problem.While not as comprehensive as other Delphiguides, such as Pacheco & Teixeira's, the information it presents ismore accessible for quick reference.I look forward to Todd & Kellencoming out with an updated version for Delphi 4.

Great All-Purpose Reference
Of the 25 Delphi books that I own, this is the one I take with me when Idon't know what will be required of me.

It is the perfect replacementdocumentation. ... Read more

Product Description
This is comprehensive, hands-on sourcebook for intermediate to advanced professional developers covers the new features of Delphi 6.0 and advanced Delphi features, including the WebBroker tool for Internet/intranet development and MIDAS, the tool for developing enterprise applications. The Sample Application section gives you the chance to follow the development of several full-fledged applications. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Great for beginners
Learning delphi is not very easy. If you are a beginner, buy this book along with "Programming & problem solving with delphi" and "Delphi in a nutshell" (a MUST language reference). Later you should buy "Mastering delphi X" and "Delphi X developers guide" (where X is the latest delphi version number).

Deceptive title, deceptive book
Should be called Delphi 4 for dummies.
Does not even have ADO , which came out in Delphi 5.

And he dares to call it a book about Delphi 6 !

I returned my copy and used the refund to get Mastering Delphi 6.

Who is this book for?
...at least [I] did not pay full price for this book.The problem with this book is that it doesn't seem to have a target audience.It's not a beginner's book (I am a beginner at Dephi for the record), and it also does not have the level of detail for the experienced Delphi programmer that the other books I have seen in bookstore address.Do youself a favor and skip this one.Mastering Delphi 6 is a good one from what I was able to skip at the bookstore, and I have yet to find an updated beginner's book for Delphi 6.

Good entry level book, a little pricy.
First the bad news. like they said: this book does not have much on the new features specific to Delphi 6. When it comes to the point, it doesn't have much on Delphi 5 features either: it has nothing on the ADO data connections in Delphi 5 and 6, and only a short (but to someone new to it concise and useful) introduction to the Microsoft office automation features. If you want a comprehensive overview of the new features and how to use them, go to Mastering Delphi 6 or the Delphi 6 Developers Guide.

Having said that, don't discount this book. It has a respectable and solid niche. For someone new to Delphi, or a programmer from another language who wants an orientation to Delphi, this book has achieved what no other Delphi book has to date. It provides a succinct, friendly introduction to Delphi and object pascal, and gets you up to date with features such as working with databases and the web to about the level of Delphi 4 functionality. He provides a lot of the material and background that books such as Mastering Delphi and the Delphi Developers guide tend to skip over to fit other stuff in. He doesn't really stop to teach you Pascal itself though (he pretty much assumes you know looping and conditional statements and that sort of stuff, which is often a fair assumption), so if you are really a beginning beginner you might want to find a tutorial on the web or an introduction to Pascal book.

If you are a beginner to RAD or object oriented programming and want to pick up the power of Delphi, this book and then afterwards the Delphi Developers guide is an excellent choice. If you are in this situation and want to buy just one Delphi book however, I'd suggest Mastering Delphi 6.

If you are using Delphi 5 or 6, this book will not cover all its features. Don't expect it to. But if you want to get the basics of object oriented programming in Delphi and a good grounding in its basics, this is a great place to start.

Difficulty ratings:

Building Delphi 6 applications: Beginner - Intermediate
Mastering Delphi 6: Intelligent/Experienced beginner - advanced
Delphi Developers Guide 6: Intermediate -advanced

Pricing . . . this book is probably priced a bit high for what it is. It is competing by title, price and marketing with 1500 page tomes that cover everything. The publisher would be better of rebranding it into a new niche of making Delphi easy to learn, at which I think this book excels.

Potential . . . this book has a lot of potential to position itself as a great learning object pascal and Delphi book. I think it would gain greatly from adding more of the absolute basics like learning plain Pascal so it could be a one-stop learn from scratch resource, and it obviously needs to get up to date with Delphi 5 and 6, particularly with regard to databases (ADO/dbGo, dbExpress, Interbase express) but also CLX, datasnap, XML, and so on. I think if the next edition builds on the basics but adds a concise section on up to date and new features, and changes or reflects its title more, it can be a winner.

A note to Paul Kimmel (the author): you sure hit a lot of flack with the title! I can see where you're coming from - if you call it Building Delphi 5 applications and release it after Delphi 6 is released, you're not going to be on the best-seller list. I suggest renaming it "object-oriented RAD application development with Delphi versions 2-6". It gets the gist across of what the book is about.

Delphi for Dumies
The title off this book must be Delphi for Dummies, or beginners, there are not delphi 6 information like CLX full explanation, webSnap, DataSnap, XML components, and others new features. ... Read more

Product Description
This easy-to-use volume includes detailed examples and sample programs covering topics from flat file I/O to data integrity and security. The reader builds programs Delphi was designed to create--full featured database programs that stretch even Delphi to the limit. The CD-ROM includes all the code and a set of third party VCLs. ... Read more

Product Description
Build better Win 3.1 and WFW apps with Delphi. More powerful than Visual Basic and faster too, Delphi is the super power tool for developing lightning-fast, object-oriented Windows apps. And now it's easier than ever to apply thanks to Delphi Nuts & Bolts for Experienced Programmers, by Gary Cornell and Troy Strain. This step-by-step guide grounds you in every aspect of Delphi's components, menus and events, fundamental and advanced programming techniques, database features and more. It shows you how to: add command buttons, labels, timers, grids and other objects to create customizable windows; debut programs with an assortment of specialized tools-including Run, Parameter, Trace Into, Program Pause and Reset, Add Watch and others; Execute commands for renaming files, changing logged drives and switching directories; utilize DDE and OLE to deploy Windows' mutitasking capabilities; master canvas graphics to exploit Delphi's astonishing graphics powers; apply advanced user interface features-including toolbars and status bars, dialog boxes, MDI forms and help systems; much more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

What a waste...
This book isn't worth the paper it's printed on. And all because it says: "for Experienced Programmers"... To clear it up: It's really a beginners guide! The first chapters explain what Delphi is. Then it tellswhat every menu-item in the IDE does. It explains some things about theDelphi types.

If you're a beginner with Delphi and you've lost theoriginal manual, then consider purchasing this book. Otherwise, it's just awaste of your money.

Good for programmer with light experience.
I read this book as a transition from VB to Delphi about a year ago while still in school.I thought it was excellent at the time, but in retrospect with the experience I have gotten as a Delphi Developer since leaving school, it is NOT for very experienced programmers.If you are a student or someone with light experience in VB, this may be a good transition.

The wrong title for this book
This book definitely is *not* for experienced programmers.For example the authors spend a paragraph explaining what an integer is! Furthermore, it doesn't get into the "nuts and bolts" at all.It is written on a very elementary level. Another annoying feature is the very frequent suggestion that the reader refer to the online reference for information on a topic.I would think that someone buys a book because he can't get the answers from the online reference. The authors also often refer you to another chapter in their book.It is as though they didn't care enough to organize their book properly. Spend your time and money elsewhere ... Read more

Product Description
If you're new to object-oriented Windows programming, then this is the Delphi book for you.

Here's a quick, easy way to become fluent in Borland's hot, new object-oriented programming language, Delphi. This book will introduce object-oriented programming techniques, and then teach you how to use Delphi by taking you step-by-step through the process of building a full-featured Windows application.

Along the way you'll learn:

• Everything you need to know about Object Pascal
• Guidelines for designing intuitive GUIs
• Debugging and testing your applications
• Event handling, exception handling, and error handling
• Using the runtime libraries and compiling executables

Product Description
Suitable for the novice programmer, Discover Pascal in Delphi provides a complete and user-friendly introduction to programming in Pascal with the accessible prize-winning programming environment - Delphi.Written to complement the author sprevious book, Discover Delphi, it puts more emphasis on the Pascal language, whilst keeping the enjoyment and fun of programming in the Delphi environment to the fore.With the aim of teaching the student how to write good, readable code, the authors cover all of the programming fundamentals, before moving on to show how to develop database applications using Delphi components, and other more advanced topics.Comprehensive appendices show how to use Delphi to produce professional Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs), and also summarise the main Pascal constructs for easy reference. Based on successful courses given by the authors, Discover Pascal in Delphi is an ideal text for novice programmers, and particularly suiting scientists and engineers who wish to learn programming skills in a sympathetic environment. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

discover pascal in delphi
this is a book for learning pascaland forand indroduction to the tool of dephi . it introduces you tothe windowingcomponets of delphi.which is hard tounderstandfrom most books .I recomendthis book for those wishing to lear pascal anddelphi tools. ... Read more

Product Description
Developing a state-of-the-art user interface isn't easy: programmers are called upon to understand what the user "expects" from software, and account for every eventuality, from the PC's design to an individual user's idiosyncrasy. This book shows exactly how to build top-notch user interfaces with the top-notch Delphi development tool for Windows.

Using extensive examples, this book shows how to program virtually every user interface element in Delphi, focusing on techniques for giving programs a modern look. Among the topics covered are: status bars, dockable toolbars, multipage dialog boxes, wizards, rollup dialogs, toolboxes, "What's This" help buttons, recently used file lists, splash screens and Easter Eggs. While Delphi 3 features are highlighted, all code has been tested under all versions of Delphi, including the 16-bit Version 1 - and where necessary, different techniques were developed for the 16-bit versions. The book also includes a complete chapter on internationalizing your Windows applications, written by Ludovic Dubois, the developer of the Polyglot Delphi translation suite. The accompanying CD-ROM includes the book in Adobe Acrobat PDF format for easy searching and reference. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

The book helps start to the user interface design.
This is a good Delphi book. It doesn't repeat the Delphi documentation. It really adds code that is worth having and talks about issues related to user interface design. However the book needs to address more issues of theuser interface design, so this is not a complete book on interface design.But the author did a good job to start the Delphi beginner programmer likeme. I really recommend this book if you are a beginner or intermidateDelphi programmer.

Not just interface design, but also the FAQ's
The book not only covers issues related to user interface design, but most of it discusses many common programming problems and tasks.The UI sections cover different types of controls and how they can be used to helpthe user.The remainder, about 2/3 of the book, however is a discussion ofsome very common problems eg. ensuring only one instance of a program,adding things to the taskbar, talking to the registry,internationalisation, error trapping etc.While the solutions and problemsare not "rocket science" they are not the sort of things whichcan be found in the manuals or the help files.It may not be an"essential" book, but it would be one which you could add to yourcollection and feel that you have not wasted your money.

Very practical. I keep going back to this book.
I guess the most refreshing thing about this book is that it isn't loadedwith fluff. It covers a wide range of design topics that are enforced withworking examples that you can put to use immediately. The entire book is onthe CD in Adobe Acrobat format, making searches a breeze.

Excellent information not found elsewhere
Lots of good information, examples and GUI theory and all oriented aroundDelphi 3. Very effective explanations of and reasons for various ways ofpresenting data and user controls.

A good intermediate Delphi book
The title is a bit misleading because it covers more than just user interface issues. It is clearly written and covers a reasonable amount of ground not found in other books aimed at either more or less experienced Delphi programmers. I like this book and I'm glad I bought it. I can recommend browsing it to see if it can help you too. ... Read more

Product Description
Written for users comfortable with the PC, Essential Delphi reveals the non-obvious details and answers users' questions not covered in other books--What is it? Why is it important? and How does it work?. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Discover briefly the what but nothing else
This book is a replicate of the on-line help. The cover states: " discover the what, why, and how ..." but there is strictly nothing consistent about the how that could make a reader understand about the "why". In the end, the beginner will hardly understand about the "what" too. A primary subject like Ole automation is vaguely commented. The purpose of this book is anything else than teaching something.

Borland's Official No-"EXAMPLE" Guide to Delphi 2
I borrowed this book from a friend, and found it to be very brief and I couldn't even find any useful example on how to build a simple project/application. It covers a wide variety of topics, but it is almost imposssible for a beginner to relate those ideas together in order to start building their very first simple delphi application !

lightweight - a cursory introduction to delphi topics
I had a look through this book and ummed and aahed about buying it. It is OK for some basic introductions to some concepts but does not treat anything in sufficient depth to be useful. Recommended for absolute beginners as a first step before moving on to a book with more thorough coverage. People who want to learn Delphi might want to purchase a more comprehensive book that gives you everything in one book.

Not worth it!
I bought this book and regretted it. It does covers a wide variety of topics but does so it such a cursory and superficial manner that I can't imagine what you could possibly learn from it that you can't from just reading the manuals. The book is aimed towards new to casual user, but even the novice is better off going with the manuals, then moving on to a more advanced book later on. ... Read more

Product Description
Aimed at users who have some familiarity with programming concepts and teaching about optimizing Delphi's native code compiler to take advantage of direct connect with a Web server. The book also contains 70 reusable procedures and functions written for Delphi developers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

ITS A GREAT BOOK (FOR BEGINNERS)
VERY EASY TO UNDERSTANSD

A Good beginning
I am a Clipper programmer moving to Delphi and I found this book to be an excellent introduction to programming in Borland Pascal.

I have read several Delphi books and really hate the style that shows you how to browsethrough the DBDEMOS animals in a simplistic--almost childish--window. Thenthey move on to programming the Windows API or other esoteric topics.

Mr.Engo move steadily from the very simple to the more complex. This is not abook for the advanced user--probably not even for the intermediate--but itis possibly the best for the novice.

He covers topics such as How todress up your interface, How to create Multiform applications, CommonProgramming mistakes, Working with Procedures and Functions and How tobuild database applications -- with and without SQL.

The biggestdisappointment--and I particularly wanted help on this--was the section onreports. It refers to ReportSmith (D3 comes with QuickReports!)

An addedbonus is a library of functions--including the source code. They are fairlyelementary, but an excellent learning tool, especially for those of us whowrote our own libraries in Clipper, and suddenly feal naked when we come toa new language without years of accumulate functions.

If you are lookingfor a good introduction to Delphi 3 -- I'm pretty sure everything will workin Delphi 4 -- then this is the book for you.

*THE* Beginner Book for Delphi
Frank Engo's book is excellently written for beginners. Delphi 3 for Dummies is *NOT* a good beginner book. D3fD is still a good book, just not a good one for beginners. How to Program Delphi 3 features a largetypeface, screenshots, commented code, and it's not a huge book (a 800 pagebook might be daunting for newbies). Not really a Pascal reference, butbecause Pascal isn't difficult to read, his comments would immenselyexplain what is going on at each line. I own at least 8 Delphi books I canname off the top of my head, and if I've ever seen a good one forbeginners, this is it. ... Read more

Product Description
Delphi, Borland's new development tool, is a powerful tool for client/server computing and a general purpose visual programming tool more powerful than Visual Basic. This book teaches experienced programmers the essentials of programming in Delphi--with no hand-holding. Everything programmers need to know is included, without unnecessary tutorials or remedial information. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Very misleading title
This is by far the weakest of the 7 Delphi books I own.It is clearly notfor experienced programmers. A lot of stuff for beginners (a wholeparagraph on what is an integer). Most of the book is just copied out theDelphi help file.

Save your money.

Better than the alternatives....
Given the state of OTHER books attempting to explain Delphi that are too heavy to even lift, spend hundreds of pages explaining simple concepts, and then gloss over the hard stuff, this book is my recommendation for the programmer who has done some VB or C/C++ Windows programming and wants to move to Delphi.

Not Too Exciting
The major problem that occasional or new users of Delphi face is the circular explanation style and few examples in the on-line help system. This book's title implies it might offer some relief. Unfortunately while wasting space on explaining basic concepts like conditionals and loops, or repeating information that's in the Help,it is short on the syntax examples that the cross-language traveler is starving for. Let's see, how do we convert a float to a long int? Good luck, as the index is also too slim. I was disappointed.

Excellent book for VB and Pascal programmers
This book is a great book for the intermediate to expert Delphi programmer.It had much to offer in the way of tips and tricks which would not be known even to the most savy developer.Small and inexpensive this book packs quite a punch in background object programming. Hope you enjoy as much as I have. Cameron Sr. Programmer/Analyst MSI, Inc. ... Read more

Product Description
This book helps every programmer get the most from the latest version of Delphi. And it reveals all the latest information including how to develop client/server applications, multimedia programs, and advanced Windows programming in an easy-Teaches the components of object-oriented programming-Covers Windows 95 and multimedia programming-Included CD-ROM contains source code from the book and sample applications ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Totally unstructured !
You will never be able to find anything useful in this book, it's totally unstructured ! The index in the end of this book is a joke !

Rambling and unorganized
Calvert's D2 has its useful side, but it contains too much chaf.Given the numerous repetitions, references to useless subjects, and not altogether focused handling of the material one could say that these 1400 pages could have been condensed to 500. (There are repetitions of the same subject on the same page!)The book reads like the friendly chattering of Calvert, but in many sections the book's organization indicates Charlie was rambling.I suspect that it is not only the author's fault that the book is unfocused, but it seems that editors don't bother to read the stuff anymore

The Professional Programmers Howto AND Why Book
Unleashed is probably the most complete reference work published on Delphi 2.If you want to know the 'why' of Win32 programming, then this book is for you.It is heavy reading and covers in depth what a professional programmer should know about Windows programming.The book is thick with examples and the included CD has an abundance of excellent programs for learning Delphi, including a separate section he included from his excellent Delphi 1 book.The author cares that you learn the subject and provides the resources to make you an excellent addition to any programmers shop. Unfortunately, due to the early date of this publication, you won't get info on the 'free' minor upgrade to Delphi 2 that added internet vcl components, but it's still the most complete 'tomb' for the serious Delphi programmer

One of the best allround Delphibooks till date
This book covers a lot of interresting things and can be used by both Beginners and Experts. I always recomend this book when I am asked what book to use when you have to learn Delphi. It is better than his book for Delphi 1

Excellent depth. Very little useful DB info.
This book is quite marvelous.The details covered are phenomenal!And there are so many tips that I use daily. My two problems with this book are: 1.Very little discussion of C/S Database programming. There is some discussion of Paradox, but I believe most users of D. are doing major projects with SQL Server, Infx., etc. 2.The coverage of exception handling, though thorough, leaves much to be desired.I have read Using Delphi 2 (by Special edition), and found it on par.So I haven't found a better source of info, but ... Anyway, I would recommend this book as a reference bible for all who have some knowledge of D and would like to get a lot more! ... Read more

Product Description
Delphi is a new Windows software development environment from Borland. Released in 1995, it has quickly built up an excellent reputation as one of the best Windows software development tools. John Cowell shows how to program in Delphi using various tools. He provides lots of examples and illustrations and describes various database specific tools included with the Delphi package. The book shows how to use the Borland database engine along with other database formats (including Microsoft's Access). There are a number of chapters which cover the object-oriented aspects of Pascal, and advanced programming techniques such as drag-and-drop, DDE, OLE, and the creation of on-line help systems are also looked at. New users, as well as current Visual Basic users wanting to get up to speed on Delphi, will find this clear and informative book provides all the information they need to develop Windows applications quickly, competently, and easily. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Best Delphi Book I ever Bought
This is without doubt the best Delphi book I ever bought.This is the book that explains all the great changes that were made in Delphi 3 (major structural changes from D1 and D2).I wrote a custom TDataSet class for a custom Database my company used with the explanation provided in this book.It laid the foundation of my Delphi Career.

Great book for intermediate Delphi programmers!
If you have programmed in another language before,but not Delphi, thisis the book for you. After a quick overview of general programmingconcepts, Pascal data types, etc., it goes into a thorough description ofthe Delphi 3 language and features. I did wish that it had more info ondatabase programming--5 chapters wasn't enough for me!

Excellent Advanced-Expert book
This is one of my favorite Delphi 3 books, as it covers material noteasily found elsewhere. This is not a beginner's book by any means. Thecoverage of DLLs, COM, and threading is outstanding. This is a book forthose who want to delve more deeply into the relationships between VCLs andthe WinAPI.

The Best Delphi 3.0 Book I've Read
I purchased this book with a view to learning more about OLE and COM which is covered very comprehensively. But I found that once I started reading the other chapters I could not put the book down.Some people have commented that this book is a poor teaching aid. This is not what this book sets out to do. QUE's guide puts this book at Accomplished to Expert level. If you are an experienced, professional programmer who needs an excellent reference book, buy this. You will not regret it.

Not a very good book to learn DELPHI
USING DELPHI 3 is not a very good book to get you started learning DELPHI.It seems to just list features and functions without explaining (in a simplified format) how and why.The examples are also incomplete and a little criptic.Maybe others got some help from this book, but I found very little that I could use.Of the 12 books I have on DELPHI the best is MASTERING DELPHI 3 by Marco Cantu, followed by DELPHI UNLEASHED by Charles Calvert. ... Read more

Product Description
The best all-in-one source for Delphi programmers who want to master this object-oriented development environment. It introduces all features and techniques including the secrets of the environment, the programming language, the custom components, and Windows programming in general. With a CD containing the full source code of all the examples in the book and many ready-to-use programs, this is an outright must for any user. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An excellent introduction to Delphi for programmers.
The author covers development in Delphi from the fundamentals of Object Oriented Programming to some of the "hidden" and undocumented features of Delphi.Not exactly a reference, but a cover-to-cover overall conceptual tome (1503 pages!)You will be knowledgeable enough to get into some serious projects with this monster.Even aspects of design and user-proofing are covered, so it's more than just a Delphi book - it's a programming book with Delphi as the development tool. ... Read more

Product Description
Delphi 3 is a true object oriented, visual programming environment. If you need to write complex applications for Windows 95, Delphi is an excellent choice. Many professional developers considered that the user interface and the facilities that Delphi 2.0 offers were superior to any other programming environment. Delphi 3 has an improved user interface and offers many additional features. One of the most exciting recent developments has been ActiveX. Delphi 3.0 has all the tools that you need to develop ActiveX components. Essential Delphi 3.0 presents all of the key features of Delphi including database and ActiveX applications with many examples. The key events and methods, graphics programming, using Object Pascal, designing menus and debugging are some of the features covered. Essential Delphi 3.0 is designed for professional developers or students who need to learn the maximum in the minimum time and to develop applications fast. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

New to Delphi? Start Here!!!
If your looking for a good informative read without the arcane language of the manuels. This book reviews the interface and components with accurate examples and provides a checklist for delivering database applications. They also include references for those who would persue the technical aspects of the underlying ObjectPascal language. ... Read more

Product Description
A comprehensive title targeted at experienced 32-bit Delphi programmers and developers in the use of the industry graphics standard library, OpenGL, which has become a standard for programming in the animation and computer game industries.Amazon.com Review
The Delphi Developer's Guide to OpenGL gives an outlineof OpenGL--once a proprietary graphics library that used to resideonly on expensive workstations--and explains its capabilities,including how to use it inside Borland's popular programming language,Delphi.

The book begins with a tour of creating a Delphi projectthat can utilize OpenGL. Over the first five chapters, the bookdemonstrates how 3D graphics work using popular computer graphicsnomenclature as well as instructions for drawing OpenGL objects inperspective within a Delphi window, and the implementation of thethree different types of OpenGL lighting (ambient, specular, anddiffuse) upon those objects.

While the book provides great coverageon some of OpenGL's effects (fog, transparency, and mapping texturesto surfaces), the most important chapter is "Picking," which discusseshow to detect a user's interaction with OpenGL objects (i.e.,detecting a user's selection and movement of an onscreen object).

There are plenty of code snippets, and all the source code in the bookcan be found on the CD-ROM. However, the book completely lacks colorpictures that demonstrate the results of the techniques, even thoughthe chapters on lighting, textures, and special effects could'vegreatly benefited from them. Also, all the examples in the book useextremely primitive shapes and actions. Presumably, a talentedprogrammer can extrapolate the viable info from the simple examplesand build more sophisticated projects.

With the proliferation ofvideo display cards that support the OpenGL standard, applicationsbuilt in popular development environments like Delphi can takeadvantage of real-time 3D graphics. This is a timely book, suitablefor programmers with Delphi experience and some graphics programmingexperience who need to get a leg up on the Delphi/OpenGL learningcurve. --Mike Caputo ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

good book for openGL in delphi
good book for openGL in delphi, only problem is that the cd doesn't have the main files needed to impliment openGL in your application, strangley enough it comes with links on where you "might" get them(66% chance of finding the openGL panel files on any of the links)...

Excellent OpenGL Kickstart for Delphi
First of all. This is a great book, where everything gets explained line by line, there is no way of not understanding a concept. This simplicity enables one to breeze through the book and get a general idea of how OpenGL works. Now, for those wanting to do something more sofisticated than working with 3D primitives and ugly textures, you will need something more, get for example the OpenGL Bible, the source code there is in C, but the OpenGL commands are the same ones, so translating C to Delphi is rather easy. I recommend looking within the Delphi OpenGL community for examples, which you learn to read and understand with the present book, you won't yearn for more, having these 3 ingredients for your OpenGL Delphi progies. Recommendation to the author, do a 2nd book with advanced examples, maybe a Quake like level editor and a basic Quake like game, which is definitely within reach for a volume 2, the Delphi community would *LOVE* you for that and heck I'd be the first to buy it. But anyway, I definitely love the book, it explained to me how OpenGL works, step by step.

Two thumbs up.

Low quality and poorly written book
Two-thirds of the book are code listings which can be found on CD. Some code does not produce the effect the author described. You poor guys have to bear and grin since this is the only book you can find about this subject. If you are a beginner for both Delphi and OpenGL, this book may be more or less helpful. I strongly recommend you to find useful info on the internet.

A Basic OpenGL Primer and a Little More
In writing about such a complex subject as OpenGL, an author has two choices: start at the beginning and develop the basics, or assume the basics and show how to do the more complex but common usage. Delphi, a combination of Object Pascal and an IDE, is a wonderful development arena. Most developers are single users and not teams.Thus its is important to have a book that deals with the basics of OpenGL, one that assumes very little about graphics.This is such a book.

Moreover, Jon Jacobs choose to document every line of code in his examples.With this there is a danger of losing concept in the details.He, however, does not because he has a knack of knowing and explaining the important parts of the code.This style is also means that the book builds upon the previous chapters; it becomes difficult to jump into the middle and try to understand what is going on.Thus this is a book to read from cover to cover, perhaps skimming parts, but not one to use as reference until one has read it.

The author does a nice job on an advanced chapter on how to use the mouse to pick up objects and how to move them.This alone is worth the price of the book.

There are two things missing from this book, the first is there is no explanation of pixel rendering, which is used to draw untextured images; and second, almost nothing on fonts. The latter is strange as one could easily encapsulate the basic text operations in a component and have a major addition to the book at little cost.

If you are a Delphi Developer and interested in graphics for games or show, this book is an excellent place to start.

-John_Mertus@Brown.EDU

A missed opportunity
Now I'm really in two minds about this one... On the one hand, it's by no means a bad book. After all, it does its job of teaching the basics of OpenGL reasonably well. Besides, as far as I know, it's the only book onthis subject written specially for Delphi programmers. This book deservesfour stars just for its uniqueness. On the other hand... I've just finishedreading "Delphi COM Programming" by Eric Harmon, and it's sosuperior in terms of style, content and presentation that rating the OpenGLbook equally or closely would simply be unfair to Mr. Harmon. So, two starsthen. There you go.

Now down to explanations. Doesn't a glance at thebook's beautiful cover make you sweat with excitement? Do the words"Delphi" and "OpenGL" in its title raise the images ofan award-winning Quake-clone in your mind, a ground-breaking game writtenentirely with your favorite programming language? Well, forget it. Usually,when I buy a book with a cover CD on it, the first thing I do is to insertthe CD into the CD-ROM drive and to try some advanced examples to see whatI'll be able to do after reading the book. OK, I thought, let's try thesame with this OpenGL tome. Double-click on "Source,"double-click on "Chapter 14" (last chapter in the book), find anexecutable, run it... Wow! A green triangle on light-blue background! Notvery motivating, really. Try Chapter 13... not much better. Maybe I amlooking in a wrong place? A quick browse though the CD revealed, apart fromthe source code, an HTML file with Web links, a few ugly textures and theentire book's text in ASCII, plus all the screenshots. How very exciting!OK, another beer-mat, then.

Back to the book. Well, as other reviewershave rightly pointed out, it's quite well written. The author uses aninformal, conversational style - so conversational in fact, that whilereading one can almost imagine a university professor standing next to ablackboard. The author's idea was to make you read the book whilesimultaneously writing the example programs. This intention is not muchhelped by the fact that due to the binding used for this book, you cannotmake it stay open unless you place something heavy on it. Besides, thetry-and-see approach, while certainly useful in, say, a classroom (whenthere is a direct contact between the instructor and the student), requiresthat you do lots of wrong things before doing something right. In a writtentext, I would rather like to see the opposite: correct solution in thebeginning of a chapter, followed by the explanation and the list ofpotential pitfalls. Of course, this is just a matter of taste. In a fewplaces, I found the flow of the explanations a bit illogical and a fewjokes rather dull (and unnecessary) - but again, some readers may likethem.

When it comes down to the code, however, I see some problems.First, the code for later chapters is based on the code written for earlierchapters, and it gets updated, corrected and changed back many times withina chapter. The full text of programs is given, unfortunately, very rarely.As a result, unless you are following the book very carefully, you soonlose track of what your program should look like. Of course, it is alwayspossible to copy the files from the CD - but in a way this destroys thepurpose of the step-by-step approach to the explanations. At anotherextreme, a lot of listings contain nothing but "form as text" -you know, this list of on-screen objects together with some of theirproperties. I don't know anyone in his right mind who would type theselistings by hand! Come on, if a Delphi programmer does not know how toplace components on a form to make the form look more or less like the oneshown on the picture, this guy should not be programming at all! Perhaps Iam too cynical, but I think the sole purpose of all this was to make thebook thicker. By the way, the oversized typeface used for the text alsoadds to my suspicion.

And then the graphics... Sure, in a book like thisyou would expect if not full-color figures then at least a colorful insertin the middle. Wrong. All the figures are presented in gloriousblack-and-white and - since the print is too dark - are essentiallyuseless. And, having tried a few programs, you almost understand it's forbetter! OK, this is not a book for graphics designers, but ugly is not theright word to describe the choice of colors and textures. OpenGL issupposed to help creating beautiful scenes! Red and green cubes on bluebackground, anyone? Come on...

I hate criticizing this book so much -it's not that bad, really, and the author's attention to detail isexceptional - it's just that it could have been so much better. If thistext were a series of articles in a magazine (with downloadable code), Iwould heartly recommend it. As a book, it is a disappointment. ... Read more