Sams Teach Yourself Delphi 4 in 21 Days (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This title brings the popular three-week tutorial format to aspiring Delphi 4 programmers, combining plenty of hands-on knowledge of the most essential features of Delphi 4, including its strong database capabilities. This book is a good choice for the beginner or intermediate programmer who wants to get a solid foundation in Delphi 4 development in a minimal amount of time.

The book begins with the basics of the Delphi programming environment and object-oriented Pascal. The author then explains the fundamentals of developing with the Visual Component Library (VCL) and discusses how to build basic user interfaces and menus using Delphi 4 design tools. This first section also includes excellent material on graphics and multimedia programming.

Further chapters examine the basics of building database programs, again using Delphi wizards. More advanced topics include building and using dynamic link-libraries (DLLs) and ActiveX components, plus creating Web-browser applications with Delphi's support for Internet controls.

Though this tutorial stresses the basics, there's quite a bit of material here on the finer points of programming using the built-in abilities of Delphi. There's also good attention to using the wizards and tools that help make Delphi a much more productive environment. --Richard Dragan

Product Description

Sams Teach Yourself Delphi 4 in 21 Days contains 750 pages of all new content. The tutorial information for programmers and developers will include complete coverage of Delphi 4's enhanced features with a client/server emphasis. Topics will include compatible component development, enterprise-wide integration, Internet enabling tools, Intranet development and beginning coverage of Borland's MIDAS architecture. No other tutorial offers this level of coverage. A Sams Teach Yourself book is the perfect introduction to an upper-level development tool such as Delphi. Note: This book and CD will be an all new edition - both book and CD content.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 944 pages
• Publisher: Sams; 1st edition (July 27, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0672312867
• ISBN-13: 978-0672312861
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #639,615 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good introduction to using Delphi 4 (and 5), February 4, 2001

By	Noel R. Martin (Pembroke Pines, Fl USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I purchased Delphi 5, and also the Developers Guide - but found it difficult to actually program in Delphi. I have a very strong programming background in procedural languages, but not in C or C++ or any other OO paradigm, and the Delphi manual and Delphi 5 Developers guide are far too advanced for beginners. This book was very easy for me to understand, and although I think that the subject matter simply cannot be mastered in 21 days this was the only book that was able to explain many of the reasons why (and how) you would use the different VCL components. Although there are many cases where more complex examples would have helped, I think that it was appropriate for the author to ignore them. This is obviously a beginners book. I would have preffered some more details on some of the more "odd" language features such as the typecasting, the use of "AS" and "IS", peculiarities of creating classes, etc, as well as some more info on the Object Pascal language and some programing conventions that may help to reduce coding errors - the syntax is particularly odd in its use of semi-colons, a fact that Borland admits in its own documentation as one of the prime reasons for intorduction of program 'bugs'.

One of the nice features of the book is the end of chapter tutorials. I did them and found the they did re-inforce the chapters, and also provided additional stimulus. You are encouraged to use the on-line help, and it does help. There is no way to progrm in Delphi without it. In order to really follow along you must interact with the software.

The book does not come with a CD, you must download sample code from the Internet, which is a bit of a bother.

In summary a very good book. The examples and text work for Delphi 5 as well as Delphi 4. I think that any beginning Delphi programmer should have this plus an advanced book, and they should be ready to take on most projects.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't be put off by the title!, October 3, 2001

By	Adam Robson E-mail: [e-mail] (Castaways Beach, Qld Australia) - See all my reviews

An ideal book for anyone who wishes to begin learning Delphi (version 4, 5 or 6). I an experienced Visual Basic programmer and purchased Delphi 5 hoping to use the on-line documentation to learn Delphi but found it too advanced and not an ideal learning environment. (On-line help tends to be a great reference tool but it's always hard to learn from.) I then purchased the Delphi Developers Guide, which seems to be regarded as the best book on the subject. Although a superb book in its own right, its not aimed at beginners. I have now completed the Sams Delphi 4 in 21 days, and let me say, its a terrific book for beginners, which teaches in a lesson format, which is actually surprisingly easy and fun to follow. Dont be put off by the Version 4 title either, all the lessons work just fine in Delphi 5.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Want to program or tackle one program?, March 16, 2000

By	Gabrielle Burne (London, England) - See all my reviews

This book is good if you have a particular application in mind - as the author himself states.

It provides clear examples but could be improved with the addition of some CD-interactive software. Reisdorph really emphasises the basics of Delphi and his attempts to ensure that his strategies are understood are quite impressive.

However, the book is geared toward an INTERACTIVE and EVOLUTIONARY learning. Although one could develop a basic ability to use Delphi as a platform in conjunction with C (and derivatives) or Prolog, for example, the book as a helpful description of the potential manipulation of Delphi as an entity is rather poor.

Buy this book if you want to

a) work quickly and intensively to get the Delphi basics

b) use Delphi for a project which must be completed soon and on a relatively basic level

c) get a quick grounding of Delphi so that you can progress on your own more investigative initiative once you have read the book

d) get some good ideas of how to use the software you've just bought and don't want to wade through the manual.