Synopses & Reviews
With a new name and a new focus on CORBA, database drivers, and Microsoft Back Office applications, Inprise/Borland Delphi is enjoying a resurgence, with a growing user base of programmers who use Delphi for rapid development of enterprise computing applications. Not to rest on success, the latest version of Delphi, Version 5, includes further expansion and refinement of the 3-tier application framework introduced in Delphi 4 and has resulted in a prize-winning product.Delphi in a Nutshell is the first concise reference to Borland/Inprise Delphi available. It succinctly collects all the information you need in one easy-to-use, complete, and accurate volume that goes beyond the product documentation itself.Delphi in a Nutshell starts with the Delphi object model and how to use RTTI (Run Time Type Information) for efficient programming. The rest of the book is the most complete Delphi Pascal language reference available in print, detailing every language element with complete syntax, examples, and methods for use. The book concludes with a look at the compiler, discussing compiler directives in depth.
Synopsis
With a new name and a new focus on CORBA, database drivers, andMicrosoft Back Office applications, Inprise/Borland Delphi is enjoyinga resurgence, with a growing user base of more than 300,000 programmers whouse Delphi for rapid development of enterprise computing applications. Notto rest on success, the latest version of Delphi, Version 5, adds Javainteroperability and further expansion and refinement of the3-tierapplication framework introduced in Delphi 4. "Delphi in a Nutshell starts with the Delphi object model, coversthe use of the IDE in detail, and shows how to use RTTI (Run Time Type Information)for efficient programming. Later chapters include working with the windowsAPI and concurrent programming tips and techniques. The rest of the bookis the most complete Delphi Pascal language reference available in print, detailing every language element with complete syntax, examplesand methods for use. The book concludes with a look at the compiler, and compiler directives discussed in depth.
Synopsis
This concise reference, the first to address the subject, promises full coverage of all the aspects of Delphi Version 5 that weren't covered in the product documentation and through online help. The discussion includes working with the Windows API, compiler directives producing efficient object code, and more.
About the Author
Ray Lischner has a bachelor's degree in computer science from Caltech and a master's in computer science from Oregon State University. He worked as a software developer for a dozen years, at big and small companies across the US, using PL/I, C, C++, Delphi, Smalltalk, various assembly languages, on both large and small systems. He has been self-employed as a consultant, trainer, and author for the last ten years.
Ray taught computer science at Oregon State University for several years and specialized in teaching introductory computer programming. He taught courses in C and C++ and software engineering.
Table of Contents
Preface; Not Your Father's Pascal; Delphi for Linux; About This Book; Conventions Used in This Book; For More Information; How to Contact Us; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1: Delphi Pascal; 1.1 Units; 1.2 Programs; 1.3 Libraries; 1.4 Packages; 1.5 Data Types; 1.6 Variables and Constants; 1.7 Exception Handling; 1.8 File I/O; 1.9 Functions and Procedures; Chapter 2: The Delphi Object Model; 2.1 Classes and Objects; 2.2 Interfaces; 2.3 Reference Counting; 2.4 Messages; 2.5 Memory Management; 2.6 Old-Style Object Types; Chapter 3: Runtime Type Information; 3.1 Virtual Method Table; 3.2 Published Declarations; 3.3 The TypInfo Unit; 3.4 Virtual and Dynamic Methods; 3.5 Initialization and Finalization; 3.6 Automated Methods; 3.7 Interfaces; 3.8 Exploring RTTI; Chapter 4: Concurrent Programming; 4.1 Threads and Processes; 4.2 The TThread Class; 4.3 The BeginThread and EndThread Functions; 4.4 Thread Local Storage; 4.5 Processes; 4.6 Futures; Chapter 5: Language Reference; Chapter 6: System Constants; 6.1 Variant Type Codes; 6.2 Open Array Types; 6.3 Virtual Method Table Offsets; 6.4 Runtime Error Codes; Chapter 7: Operators; 7.1 Unary Operators; 7.2 Multiplicative Operators; 7.3 Additive Operators; 7.4 Comparison Operators; Chapter 8: Compiler Directives; Command-Line Tools; The SysUtils Unit; Errors and Exceptions; File Management; String Management; Numeric Conversion; Dates and Times; Localization; Modules; Windows; Miscellaneous;