Customer Reviews

Mastering Delphi 5

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mastering Delphi 4 is a great book, however 5 falls short in both substance and coverage of the new features in Delphi 5. I used Mastering Delphi 4 to bring me up to speed with the Object Pascal language and it was wonderful. Hold out for the Delphi 5 Developers Guide, it should contain (I hope)more detailed information on the XML Broker, IBExpress, Office, etc.

Buy Mastering Delphi 4 if you are new to Delphi, if a veteran, hold out for the developers guide.

I am very disappointed when I got this book. However, I can't give it any lower rating because it IS a good book for someone who wants to learn Delphi or for someone who wants to enhance their delphi skills. However, the book bare touches the new topics in Delphi 5 and it did not cover any detail on those new topics. To me, this book is identical to the last 3 books. It's just collecting dust sitting on my desk. Would someone please explore the revamped MIDAS, the new internet express? These are only 2 of the most important topics in Delphi 5 that's missing from this book. (ignore the topic holder chapaters....)

I've bought a lot of Delphi books over the last few years, and this is one of the best! Excellent coverage of Database (including ADO, SQL, and N-Tier), Client/Server, and Internet programming. If you own Delphi 5 Pro or Enterprise...get this!

It doesn't waste your time with a bunch of silly sections on creating little overlapping circles on your screen, nor does it deal much with Multimedia (my only complaint). If you are writing a real world database or Internet application, this book is well worth the money! (With it I finally understand the Delphi "messaging system.")

This is a large book, with over 1000 pages, so it's no light read, but Canti's writing style is enjoyable. It's not really a book for absolute beginners, although it has an excellent language section for those who may need to bone up on Pascal.

With this book, and a good Multimedia book you'll be well equipped to write the next great killer app!

This book continues the series of "Mastering..." books Cantu has authored. However, this volume is rather lighter on some of the basics that were part of earlier editions. That's a plus for persons familiar with Delphi already. Cantu wastes few words and to get maximum benefit one needs to work carefully along step by step using the examples downloadable from the internet. Of particular value are the tips and undocumented features Cantu shares. This is as good an introduction to Delphi 5 as anyone could hope for!

OK - a very simple review. We have this book at the office both in the 4 and 5 versions. We also have the Teixeira book ("Developers guide"). Cantu actuallly does a good job for beginners and the text quality is ok. There could easily be some more depth and better (intelligent) examples.

We actually have a joke that you *never* find anything in this book. For language reference/tutorial: this is *not* it. For the components: This is definitely *not* it. I really don't know what this is for, except as an introductory overview... in... 1250 pages ! Pretty strange really.

So I dunno - nice book but still not very helpful. Does *not* go beyond Delphi's own documentation. Doesn't even cover that much. Your still gonna be looking through source and wondering what's going on here and there.

Sidenote: Still haven't found any good book on Delphi components. For language, real-world programming - Teixeira is much better. We ordered the O'reilly book, hope it's good.

This was one of the first books to cover the newest version of Delphi. It's too big to just sit down and read, so I originally used it mainly for reference. I've had no trouble looking things up in the index and finding just the right place in the book that covers the topic I need right away. But I'm finding it's better than just a reference tool. As I read and am presented with new knowledge, Marco seems to anticipate my next question and answers it immediately! I often find myself exclaiming, "Yes, I WAS wondering about that!" He doesn't dwell on any one topic too long, but leaves you with enough direction and curiosity to easily discover the rest of the solution on your own. I've used Borland's Pascal tools for many years and yet this book seems to shed new insights into this powerful object-oriented language.

This book has helped me understand Delphi 5 with minimal problems. ALL of the examples worked, and that alone says something for this Author! Although I am not a starting fresh programmer, I found this book to be very helpful with understanding Delphi structures/components. I am transitioning from VB to Delphi, and this book really has shown me the ropes of Delphi! Much of the content overlaps what I already knew in VB, but showed me how it was done using Delphi.

I have read dozens of books written for C/C++, Java, VB, HTML, ASP, and this one really gets into the "meat" of what is going on (unlike most). Don't worry about non-intelligent examples -- THE POINT IS: to show how the component or methodology works, and if you are talented enough to understand this, you will easily turn those examples into real situations/solutions. I have found that by using the simple approach, a beginner will understand how something works one step at a time; instead of getting a real-world situation all at once to only be confused by its complexity. Have an open mind while reading ANY book, and you will understand it much better :-)

Anyway, this is a great book -- No doubting that. Marco Cantu really knows Delphi, and explains it very well. Great Job!

This book is a monster, which I usually despise; but Marco Cantu chose his words effectively and descriptively. Most everything I've looked for I've found in this book. It's a bit heavy, but definitely worth carrying around as a reference. It's the best Delphi reference book I've found so far. I wouldn't recommend reading it cover to cover, but look through the table of contents and pick the chapters you're most interested in. The index is useful as well.

This is a great book. My complain is that sometimes it leaves you wanting for more and he says a lot of times to check the source code from the web site. Also while reading you get incomplete code (printed) and you keep wondering how the code should work, due that you have to read the code that must be downloaded from the web site. This book is not for the beginner starting to learn Delphi and neither for advanced developers. If you are in a line between these levels, then this book is for you.

Marco gives great tips to make your apps look like commercial apps and good HOW-TO'S. The chapter about component development is fair and the webbroker is good.

Anyway when I finished reading the book (from cover to cover) I was satisfied, but I wanted more.

Another book to check is the Developer's Guide for Delphi 5 from Texeira and Pacheco.

SO MUCH from the Delphi 3 version is missing including a ton of basics. I read Mastering Delphi 3 to pieces and considered it almost a one-stop source for nearly every topic I needed. Sorry, not so with Mastering Delphi 5.

In all fairness, Marco's website has a link to Essential Pascal which makes up a lot. That was the difference between three and four stars.

Still somehow I feel like the examples are shorter and most topics are covered rather briefly. For example, there isn't ANY mention of TeeChart that I could find while there was in Mastering Delphi 3.

I think that each chapter (of any modern programming book) should have a URL for a site 'to learn more' in this day and age.