I need a good Delphi or Pascal reference book or maybe a couple.  I've been
hammering away at this for far too long without any reference material.  Do
any of you know any good reference books that I can buy?

I little about me so you know what I may need...

I have NO formal education in programming (it was a hobby) and one day my
boss heard that I knew a lot about computers... He has put me in charge of
the network, and programming little applications to help run his business. I
started working with Delphi about six months ago (but I have twenty-five
years exp. with computers (Yes 25, I built my first computer (A HeathKit) so
I have been around forever) I used to program in assembler)

My problem is, without a formal education in programming there are gaps in
my knowledge. I know a little VB and have wrote some successful Access
programs....

Thanks
Carol

Here's a free, online book - it's great: Learning delphi 4 in 21 days.
http://www.cesis.lv/learn/delphi/index.html

Cheers,
Nicholas Sherlock

news:CFEp9.7414$ER5.469949@news2.telusplanet.net...

news:CFEp9.7414$ER5.469949@news2.telusplanet.net...
material.  Do

I have Cantu's Mastering Delphi 5, and Delphi Developer Guide (D 3
edition), plus an O'Reilly Delphi language reference (this one I can do
without, although it was helpful to read the initial chapters when I was
starting out). Those are more than sufficient, all other specific
material is easily accessible on delphi.about.com or torry's or its own
documentation. But your mileage may vary, so there's no substitute for
going to amazon.com and checking things out for yourself.

Then perhaps what you need is not a "delphi book" but a series of more
formal books in areas of data structures, algorithms, database
management, and software design?

Paul

news:CFEp9.7414$ER5.469949@news2.telusplanet.net...

Sounds very much like the way I got into programming.
I have found that books hardly ever cover the things which
really get you stuck. They tell you everything about the
easy stuff and nothing about more complicated things.
E.g. locating a record with one field value is covered,
but a multi-field locate is not. Or they tell you how to
create a table at run time, but not how to add/delete
fields, etc. The sense I get from most books is that
they were written by people who never programmed a real
world application. The on-line help is very similar.
The good news is that for business programs you need
very little fancy stuff. Chose the simple way, even if
that relies on brute processing power. Keep in mind that
in a few month a bug may show up and you will have to
understand your own code, which is sometimes surprisingly
difficult.

Best of Luck.

PR

Unless you want to read a tomb on how the processer works. They need to
write some programming books like the ones that came with the old Apple IIe.
We need a Reference book with all the commands and how each one can/is used.
Sorta like a glosery / dictionary, with everything we need, but without the
in depth look into the 'proccessing of data' (I have my own way of thinking
about how a proccesser thinks and don't need to confused with someone elses
veiws. Which isn't to say that their view are wrong, they are just wrong for
me.)

When I was in school I had a lot of problem doing math the way they wanted
me to (I never wrote out my work) I could just look at an equation and know
what the answer was. I used to upset the teacher on that, he said I had to
be cheeting 'cause I couldn't explain my work or how I got the answer (Try
explaining why when you look at a red car you see a red car without loosing
your audience somewhere in refrection and shape recognition)

I'm one of those people who learn by doing. I like to take thing apart. I've
taken apart some of the demos that came with Delphi and that's how I got my
start in ObjectPascal.

Carol,

The Delphi language is so rich and have so much functions and procedures
that writing it all down in one book it will cost a few thousand pages.
Nobody want's such a thing.

You can learn a lot from the Help-files. For a deeper insight study the
sourcecode.

If you can't find what you're looking for, ask here or in de borland
newsgroups.

Alfred.

"Caroline Clark" <caroline.cl...@shaw.ca> schreef in bericht
news:CFEp9.7414$ER5.469949@news2.telusplanet.net...

I don't think you told us what version of Delphi you're
running.  If it's some version of Pro or above, I strongly
recommend Marco Cantu's "Mastering Delphi" for that version.
If you're starting off with Standard or Personal, start with
the "Essential Pascal" and "Essential Delphi" at his website,
http://www.marcocantu.com/

Also see the articles and links at http://delphi.about.com/
--
Rick Carter
carte...@email.uc.edu   Rick.Car...@ParadoxCommunity.com
Chair,   Paradox/Delphi SIG,   Cincinnati PC Users Group

In article <CFEp9.7414$ER5.469...@news2.telusplanet.net>, Caroline Clark
<caroline.cl...@shaw.ca> writes
I did a Saturday morning course at my local college to get me started
with delphi in 1998. They explained how all the files (.pas, .dcu)
worked and how delphi worked. Then they did a simple tour of stuff like
show/hide, date time routines, reading/writing to from files, and the
basic components like memos, edit boxes. It is obvious stuff once
someone has shown you.

If you can get on similar then do so, it cost me 50 bps, (best 50 quid I
ever spent) and lasted 6 weeks.

Then there were 2 things both of which have been invaluable,

1. Mastering Delphi x by march cantu, expensive but I though the 3 and 5
books were great, well with the money - whenever I program now I have at
least one of them open on my desk. The D6 copy is not much of an add on.
I have it but don't use it - I do not do all the high level web stuff
with Delphi which it focuses on (and my copy has very poor
graphics/visualisations but that might be a printing thing). As an
incompetent programmer with no prior experience I would give it a 5 star
rating.

2. This newsgroup. 90 % of what I know now (which aint much) I learned
here. Just think about the questions before you ask them and give as
much detail and background as you can. I have a big green indexed file
which I have been filling for a few years now with responses to
questions I have raised here. I also have that open on my desk when I
write code. There are some real experts here and you will begin to
recognise the names after a while. This is a proper non-lookatyou,you
stupidamateurprogammer community.

The only other thing is love Delphi and you will crack it. Set yourself
some small programming tasks which will make your life easier - that's
how I kept motivated.

From a real 'amateur, never did anything like this before thought
programmers were whiz kids with brains the size of planets ye gods I can
actually do some of it now' programmer.
Liam Healy

D1,3,5,6 . Coding standard : 3 to 7 yrs.

Gah! If only I had known about these commands when I started my programming
career... I was forced to use 1 form only or change the autocreate order
every time I wanted to access the second form.... When I finally learnt
about them a month or so after starting, it was all go :).

Cheers,
Nicholas Sherlock

In article <aodhrp$p4...@lust.ihug.co.nz>, Nicholas Sherlock
<n_sherl...@hotmail.com> writes
Ouch!

Liam Healy