Well, I am new to Delphi and really offline programming in general (other than the standard C++) and recently acquired a copy of Delphi and was kind of interested in starting with it. I read somewhere that it uses Pascal but I was confused on if it used Pascal, as in it was programmed with it, or if it used Pascal as in the language you code in it. Either way, I was wondering if anyone had any good resources to start learning. Either books or articles/forums online would be splendid. This is a neat little community here so I plan on utilizing this.
Asked
Active
Viewed 3,849 times
6
-
2It should be Delphi == Pascal. – Fernando Martin Jul 19 '09 at 06:29
-
lol wasn't sure about which one to use :) – Lonestar Jul 19 '09 at 06:49
-
14In Pascal, '=' is the equality test, not '==' – Jul 19 '09 at 08:58
-
And Delphi>Pascal would be way better, as the language is several times larger. It's like C++>C. – Marco van de Voort Jul 19 '09 at 13:11
-
3Except the things that Delphi added to its base language aren't defective. ;) – Mason Wheeler Jul 19 '09 at 17:04
-
Lonestar, you've really asked two questions. One is about what the product really is, and the other is about resources to learn it. Don't combine them into a single post. Ask them separately so that the answers can be more focused (and so that you can get more points by people voting on two questions instead of one). – Rob Kennedy Jul 19 '09 at 18:53
-
Mason: I'm not so sure if Delphi did that so clean either. Slowly the language is getting unwieldy large. I think the problem with C++ is more that the base language was so conceptually limited (no module, preprocessor etc) that extending it in the same spirit and backwards compat was too hard. – Marco van de Voort Jul 20 '09 at 13:49
9 Answers
13
Delphi is a pascal-based object-oriented programming language. It's also a product, a large part of which has been programmed using the Delphi language.
Here are some excellent SO questions with answers that contain fantastic suggestions for learning Delphi:
- Learning Delphi
- Books about the Delphi language
- What's the best Delphi book for a newbie?
- Delphi tips
Many of those SO answers contain useful links, including many of the ones provided by others here, along with comments (and SO votes) to help you prioritize them.
12
http://www.marcocantu.com/EPascal/default.htm
http://www.delphibasics.co.uk/
RRUZ
- 134,889
- 20
- 356
- 483
-
1+1 for Delphi Basics. Great site for looking at the fundamentals of the language. Also very handy as a replacement for the help in Delphi since in the later versions of Delphi its slow, ponderous and an unsearchable pile of junk. It was great in Delphi 5 & 6. – Pauk Jul 19 '09 at 07:28
8
Delphi refers to both a programming language built around an object-oriented evolution of Pascal known as Object Pascal, and its associated RAD IDE development environment. That's a pretty formal definition, though, and you can generally use "Delphi" and "Object Pascal" interchangeably.
We've got a nice, strong Delphi representation here on StackOverflow for asking questions. In fact, if your question is advanced enough, it's not uncommon to see it get answered by various high-level Delphi team members. You can also go to the official CodeGear (the company that makes Dephi) forums at http://forums.codegear.com
Mason Wheeler
- 82,511
- 50
- 270
- 477
7
I think websites are pretty much covered in previous answers (Delphi Basics would be my suggestion) so here's a couple of books:
- Delphi in a Nutshell. Its is quite old, but it's a good reference to start with.
- Borland® Delphi™ 6 Developer's Guide. Again, an old book, but packed with info.
For something more up to date (I've not read these personally), try:
He also has a full section of books on Lulu.
Pauk
- 2,623
- 3
- 26
- 28
6
You should also check out Marco Cantu's site, and look for the Essential Pascal and Essential Delphi books. The first one is a free download.
-
And if you're in a good used book store, have a look for Marco's giant Delphi tomes. – Warren P Mar 01 '11 at 17:52
5
Delphi Basics
www.delphibasics.co.uk
**Best for all delphi beginners
VCL Sources
Best way to learn how to really program in delphi
Mastering Delphi by Marco Cantu
www.marcocantu.com
Delphi 3000
http://www.delphi3000.com/
For learning to do things practically
Argalatyr
- 4,639
- 3
- 36
- 62
RadicalFish
- 123
- 3
- 4
-
Is delphi3000.com a good site? Everytime I get it AVG says there is a SQL Injection Exploit. – Lonestar Jul 19 '09 at 10:01
5
Check out the Beginning Delphi and Delphi Video wiki pages.
The 3DBuzz site has changed a little and all of their Delphi video tutorials are available from the front page.
On Embarcadero's Developer Network site, under the Resources menu, there are links to all kinds of audio and video content. Note that you can filter it by product.
Bruce McGee
- 15,076
- 6
- 55
- 70
-
13DBuzz only has 2 tutorials sadly. One video is 40 minutes with 30 of that talking about how to get Turbo Delphi (which requires .NET 1.1...very outdated and known compatibility issues) – Lonestar Jul 21 '09 at 05:34
-
I think you missed some. There are 3 sets of tutorials under the Delphi category, with 9 videos in total. The second and third ones are 71 and 153 minutes respectively. Turbo Delphi is based on Delphi 2006 Pro, but the tutorials apply equally well to newer (and even older) versions. – Bruce McGee Jul 21 '09 at 10:13
-
Ahh, yheah. I did miss the others. They junp pretty quick into an mp3 player. Not exactly something for a beginner. I'll watch them and see though. Thanks for pointing that out. – Lonestar Jul 22 '09 at 19:49
-
Again, take a closer look. An MP3 player might sound advanced, but they spend a lot of time on the basics. I think you'll be happy with the technical level. – Bruce McGee Jul 22 '09 at 21:02
3
I haven't seen a Pascal Language resource as perfect as the Delphi help itself! I hadn't heard about Pascal before I got a copy of Delphi. I learned Pascal from Delphi's help system (Object Pascal Reference).
You will have an intermediate level understanding of Pascal Language from Delphi help. Learn the real world usage of language constructs from VCL/RTL source code (especially sysutils.pas, system.pas, etc..)!
2
For quick reference, I often use the FPC docs. Multiple format (html,pdf,chm), and more examples.
Of course it requires you to look out for minor compatibilities, but looking at an alternate wording it can be useful: http://www.freepascal.org/docs.html or the CHM versions at http://www.stack.nl/~marcov/doc-chm.zip
However the absolutely best source was the D7 dead-tree manuals (language and developer guide), which I read back to back several times. People assure me the current help has all that and more, but somehow I'm unable to access it as easily as then.
Marco van de Voort
- 25,628
- 5
- 56
- 89