Delphi in a Nutshell (In a Nutshell (O'Reilly)) by Ray Lischner

In a Nutshell

by Ray Lischner

Aimed at the working Delphi developer, Delphi in a Nutshell is an effective desktop reference to this popular programming tool. Besides listing all core classes and methods, this book also provides a host of expert dos and don'ts for mastering the newest features in Delphi's Object Pascal. The heart of this book is its reference sections on built-in Delphi language features and other useful information on this development tool. Each entry has a guide to syntax, a description of all parameters and return values, and code samples, plus many entries feature "tricks and tips" with additional information. While this title concentrates on the "core" language (instead of Delphi's extensive support for visual components), there's little doubt that it will be useful if you work with the tool on a daily basis. The book also delivers an advanced guide to ramping up on the latest and greatest in new language features in Object Pascal. Material on using classes, and the type of information features available in today's Delphi, are particularly effective. There are a lot of smart tips on proper class design techniques, including using properties, constructors, and destructors. (Delphi has its own conventions here, and this book will fill you in if you are coming to Object Pascal from another programming language.) Along the way, the author offers numerous expert nuggets on when to use (and when to avoid) using certain features. Whether you are a novice or a more experienced developer, this tutorial and reference is all you need to be productive with the latest and greatest in object-oriented programming with Delphi. --Richard Dragan Topics covered : Overview of Delphi Object Pascal, units and libraries, data and string types, exception handling, file I/O, classes and objects, inheritance, constructors and destructors, interfaces, reference counting, Windows messages, memory management strategies, virtual method tables (VMTs), properties, using TypInfo , virtual and dynamic methods, automated methods and COM, Delphi type information and RTTI, concurrent programming with threads, synchronization, thread local storage techniques, Delphi language reference, system constants, operator reference, compiler directives, code samples, and programming tips.

Genres: Technical, Reference

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[André · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was employed as developer in a Delphi orientied software company (at the turn of the millennium), I really absorbed this book. It was pretty helpful back then, iirc, but prolly outdated, now.

[Idir Yacine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book on delphi I've read so far , concise straight to the point explanations ; the language reference section was gold it helped clear up a lot of my syntax misunderstanding .
What's the difference between delphi in a nutshell / object pascal handbook :

- object pascal : more visually pleseant , but lacks some real concereate examples (for a beginer )
they tend to skip the structure a lot and think you already know it (which as a beginer I don't )
the concepts explanation is pretty decent .

- d in a nutshell : less visually pleseant , rich in great detailed examples (lang ref section) and doesn't fall any short on the general aspects of the language .

That said dian provided me with more value (personal opinion , perhaps the reading order influenced my experience ? pascal first then dian)