Experience Delphi Again For The First Time

Granted it's been quite a while since I compiled my last verion of real Delphi code. I just looked at the release date for my last retail product, 02/28/2004. Has it really been that long. Unbelievable.

I purchased Delphi 2010 in November 2009 for a few reasons:

Embarcadero allows the upgrade price for any version until 12/31/2009.
I need to bring my products up to date (no more 640 X 480 windows) etc.
I'm no longer burnt out from writing other people's code.

So, I've concluded that I've learned quite a bit in the almost six years that I haven't written any Delphi code. Translation, I've made several hundred mistakes and have become more seasoned at my craft. Anyway, I didn't stop coding, I jumped into heavy duty web development using classic ASP and Microsoft SQL.

I've decided to "Experience Delphi Again For The First Time". Oh yeah a lot has changed and if I was to do it all over again (wait a minute that's what I'm doing) I'd still pick Delphi but I'd learn... I mean really learn what I should have learned the first time. I started by compiling a list of bookmarks that include:


Stackoverflow (http://stackoverflow.com/)
Delphi About (http://delphi.about.com/)
Code Central (http://cc.embarcadero.com/)
Delphi Feeds (http://www.delphifeeds.com/)
Marco Cantù (http://www.marcocantu.com/)


I've also started accumulating a new set of books to compliment the other 24 Delphi/Pascal books I already have laying around. Of my old books "Complete Turbo Pascal Third Edition" by Jeff Duntemann is my absolute favorite. Here's a list of new (to me anway) books I've recently acquired:


Mastering Delphi 2005 - Marco Cantù
Delphi 2007 Handbook - Marco Cantù
Delphi 2009 Handbook - Marco Cantù
Delphi 2009 Development Essentials - Bob Swart
The Tomes of Delphi Algorithms and Data Structures - Julian Bucknall


However, there's one other resource that I need to tell you about. It's called "The Delphi Magazine". It is no longer in print but you can order the "Delphi Magazine Total Collection" for $57.00. This collection is amazing. I spent last night looking at all the article titles written by each author. This includes all 139 magazine issues from April 1995 through March 2007.

I like the fact that you can browse articles by author. The same author will have several related articles and if you are interested in those articles they are all in one place. It's like recording your favorite TV shows without the commercials.

Get the Delphi Magazine Total Collection.
http://www.thedelphimagazine.com/


I told you I was "Experience Delphi Again For The First Time" and this total collection is awesome. I have never fully converted from a Top-Down Procedural programmer to an Object Oriented programmer but I will be after I read and put to use the 6 articles by David Baer.

1: Crossing The Chasm
2: Welcome To The Machine
3: Skyrocketing Property
4: The TObject Of My
5: You Are TEgg Man...
6: To Talk Of Many Thing


Semper Fi - Gunny Mike

Keeping Your Code Folded in Delphi 2010

I really enjoy the "Code Folding" feature inside Delphi 2010. I noticed that each time I reopened the project I was working on the folded code was no longer folded.

To keep your code folded you need to turn on the "Project desktop" setting:

Tools > Options > Environment > Project desktop

Semper Fi - Gunny Mike