Cape Cod Gunny - Michael Riley: 2018

Saturday, December 8, 2018

Code Rage 2018 Replay: What's New With RAD Studio 10.3 Rio

I was unable to attend Code Rage 2018 this year. I'd like to thank Embarcadero for making the replays available. In this video, Sarina Dupont, David Millington, and Marco Cantu discuss what's new with RAD Studio 10.3 Rio. I like the new changes to the IDE.

Code Rage 2018: RAD Studio 10.3 Rio Product Address
https://www.embarcaderoacademy.com/courses/441209/lectures/7010714

Q&A Slide

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

The 20-Second Hug

program TwentySecondHug;

{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}

{$R *.res}

uses
  System.SysUtils;

begin
  try
    Writeln('The 20-Second Hug');
    Writeln('Copyright (C) 2018 by Michael J. Riley');
    Writeln('(May be freely distributed worldwide)');
    Writeln('#20SecondHug #20SecondHugs #PilotLight ');
    Writeln(#13#10);
    Writeln('+--------------+');
    Writeln(' Instructions ');
    Writeln('+--------------+');
    Writeln(' 1. Squeeze recipient.');
    Writeln(' 2. Don''t let go until this window closes.');
    Sleep (20000); //Stay awake don't miss this part;
      { TODO 1 :
      Translate instructions into other languages.
      Ask Delphi programmers for help by putting
      translations in blog comments. }
  except
    on E: Exception do
      Writeln(E.ClassName, ': ', E.Message);
  end;
end.

Enjoy,
Gunny Mike
zilchworks.com

Sunday, August 12, 2018

Delphi Book Collection

One week after I wrote about Warren Buffet's 25-5 rule I created my own "Top 5" list. However, this time I put a little twist on it. Instead of creating a to-do list of things I wanted to accomplish in the next six months, I created a list of the top 5 things I have accomplished within my lifetime. It took me about five or six days but I finally came up with my list.

#4 on my list: "Creating a software product back in 1991 that still generates sales today."

If you check the list of Delphi releases you'll notice that Delphi didn't exist in 1991. Turbo Pascal was the tool I used to create that first version of my software. Here is a picture of Zilch v1.11. Unfortunately, I do not have a copy of my very first version 1.0.

Zilch Version 1.11 (Version 1.0 not available)

Learning Turbo Pascal was fun. I owe my passion and desire for computer programming to Jeff Duntemann. He wrote a book called "Complete Turbo Pascal". It was that book that taught me everything I needed to know about computer programming, and the Pascal language. In fact, the reports within my software are pulled using the double-linked list example in his book. Duntemann does a brilliant job of explaining this concept.

That book is by far my absolute favorite programming book. I used several snippets of code, and in some cases entire routines from the examples in his book. Like the linked list routines. I remember getting close to being done. My software was about a month away from being released as shareware. And it dawned on me, "Holy crap. I've used a bunch of code from this book and it's copyrighted. Can I do this?" So I called Jeff and the conversation went something similar to this...

Me: Mr. Duntemann.

Jeff: Yes.

Me: You don't know me. My name is Michael Riley. I'm a US Marine developing software in my spare time.

Jeff: That's good. I like Marines.

Me: Mr. Duntemann, I've...

Jeff: Please call me Jeff not Mr. Duntemann.

Me: Okay. I've been using your book "Complete Turbo Pascal" to learn how to write my software. And I've embedded several of the code snippets into my software. The're all over the place. I've even used the complete linked-list code routines. Am I allowed to do this? Can I use your code in my own software?

Jeff: Of course. That's why I wrote the damn book.

Me: Whew, that's a relief. You have no idea how worried I was. I really like how you explained double linked lists.

Jeff: I get quite a few calls from people telling me they have my book and asking to explain something. I remember the phone ringing at 1 in the morning one time and I was explaining linked lists to this guy. I remember using a kite metaphor. You see it's like a kite with a tail, and attached to that tail is another kite with a tail. And attached to that tail is another kite. Kites and tails with attached kites keep going on and on and on.

I love this guy. That was 1991 and Jeff and I have been friends ever since. One of these days I'm going to have to get Jeff to sign this book. I've completely destroyed the spine. I even had to use clear shipping tape to hold the spine together.

Complete Turbo Pascal Third Edition - Jeff Duntemann

My books have been scattered all over my basement office. When I want one I go searching from pile to pile. Moving stuff, looking around. It's frustrating and not very productive. Arrrgh!

It's been like this for a long time. It's not just books that are unorganized. It's me. It's everything. Besides, the older I get the harder it is to keep track of stuff. Stuff I need to do. When it needs to get done. Who I owe it to. Who owes me stuff. All that stuff.

So, I dusted off my old Franklin Planner that I haven't used since 2010. Inserted the new planner pages on Wednesday night and started using it the next day. Life is so much better now. I set a task for organizing my basement home office on Saturday. Then I decided to gather up all my Delphi books and put them on one single bookshelf. Wow, I have quite the collection.

Click to enlarge image

And guess what? All those books are tied to my #4 lifetime accomplishment: "Creating a software product back in 1991 that still generates sales today".

However, it not about what I did. It's about people. The people who helped me while I was in the midst of doing the thing I did. Like I said, I owe my #4 to Jeff Duntemann. Without him this never would have happened. Look what it's lead to. It's because of Jeff that I stayed enthused, and stayed passionate. Passionate enough to buy 32 Delphi books over the past 28 years. Not to mention the eBooks sitting on my computer. Thank you Jeff.

Don't worry I've told this to Jeff already. He's not hearing this for the first time reading it here. What kind of guy do you think I am.

I have a challenge for you! I want you to create your own "Top 5" list of lifetime achievements.

It doesn't matter if it takes you a week, or two weeks, or longer. Just do it. Then sit and think about your accomplishments. Think long enough about them until you discover who helped you get there. And then, reach out to them and let them know.

Enjoy,
Gunny Mike
zilchworks.com

Sunday, May 20, 2018

Don't Just Code in Delphi, Think in Delphi

I have always struggled with fully understanding the object oriented nature of Delphi. I still struggle with it today. For example, I have tried to read Nick Hodge's book "Coding in Delphi" three times and can't get past page 23. I'm currently on page 96 of Pawel Glowaki's book "Expert Delphi" and had to stop because he talks about using the TTextWriter class which is a class with virtual abstract methods. Virtual Abstract Methods, are you kidding me. What the hell are Virtual Abstract Methods.

(Expert Delphi page 96) "Notice that the TTextWriter class is a class with virtual abstract methods that just define the interface to the text writing functionality so we need to use one of the text writer descendants such as TStringWriter."

Okay, so I get a small glimpse into what Pawel's talking about. These VAM's are just interface definitions. They don't really exist. The real functions exist somewhere else. In this case the TStringWriter class. I'm just barely hanging on here, but I'm hanging on.

I blame my Delphi ignorance on my lack of going back to square one and learning Delphi's OOP think from the beginning. At the time I started using Delphi I just plowed ahead and made the code work. I wanted a Windows program and that is all I cared about. Looking back at it, I'd say I forced Delphi to work like my top-down procedural thinking. I never fully embraced the Delphi OOP think.

Hodges, Glowaki, Cantu, and all the other Delphi authors out there think in Delphi. And if I want to understand them and be proficient in Delphi I need to think in Delphi too.

So, how do you think in Delphi?

You find a resource that explains Delphi in a simple straight-forward manner. Perhaps a resource that teaches you how Delphi came into being. Does such a resource exist? Yes. And I just so happened to have a copy on my bookshelf.

Here are three paragraphs from page 7 and 8. If these paragraphs speak to you like they did me, then I highly recommend you read the entire Turbo Pascal 5.5 Object Oriented Programming Guide.

The challenge of object-oriented programming (OOP) is that it sometimes requires you to set aside habits and ways of thinking about programming that have been considered standard for many years. Once that is done, however, OOP is simple, straight- forward, and superior for solving many of the problems that plague traditional software programs.

A note to you who have done object-oriented programming in other languages: Put aside your previous impressions of OOP and learn Turbo Pascal 5.5's object-oriented features on their own terms. OOP is not one single way; it is a continuum of ideas. In its object philosophy, Turbo Pascal 5.5 is more like C++ than Smalltalk. Smalltalk is an interpreter, while from the beginning, Turbo Pascal has been a pure native code compiler. Native code compilers do things differently (and far more quickly) than interpreters. Turbo Pascal was designed to be a production development tool, not a research tool.

And a note to you who haven't any notion at all what OOP is about: That's just as well. Too much hype, too much confusion, and too many people talking about something they don't understand have greatly muddied the waters in the last year or so. Strive to forget what people have told you about OOP. The best way (in fact, the only way) to learn anything useful about OOP is to do what you're about to do: Sit down and try it yourself.

I'm convinced this little 124 page resource will give me the solid foundation of Delphi think that I've been missing. I was so excited to find this little gem and what it offers, I had to stop reading and tell you guys about it.

A copy is available on archive.org

Enjoy!

Semper Fi
Gunny Mike
zilchworks.com

Saturday, April 28, 2018

What do you, me, Warren Buffet, and his pilot have in common?

Success. Each one of us; you, me, Buffett, his pilot all want success. Whether we acknowledge it or not, we each hunger for success. So, what separates the exceptionally successful people from the rest of us?

Check out this story about Warren Buffet and his long-time pilot then you decide.

Mike Flint was Buffett's personal airplane pilot for 10 years. Flint had flown for 4 different U.S. Presidents before, so he was pretty good at flying. Yet he still felt as though he hadn't achieved all of the career and life goals that he wanted to.

So one day Buffett jokingly says to Flint: "The fact that you're still working for me tells me I'm not doing my job. You should be out going after more of your goals and dreams."

So Flint asks Buffett for his help, and Buffett tells him to go through this 3-step exercise.

Here's how it works (you can play along at home, too)…

STEP 1
Buffett started by asking Flint to write down his top 25 goals - the things that came to mind when he thought of success in his career and life. So, Flint took some time and wrote them down.

STEP 2
Then, Buffett asked Flint to review his list and circle his top 5 goals - the things that were most important to him and that he wanted more than anything else in the world.

This was a lot harder for Flint, since everything on his list was important to him (after all, that's why he wrote them down). But Warren insisted that he could only pick five, so after some time and thought, he made five circles.

"Are you sure these are the absolute highest priority for you?" Warren asked. Steve confidently replied that they were.

STEP 3
At this point, Flint had two lists. The 5 items he had circled were List A and the 20 items he hadn't circled were List B.

Warren now asked Flint when he planned to get to work on these top 5 goals and what his approach would be.

Flint explained, "Warren, these are the most important things in my life right now. I'm going to get to work on them right away. I'll start tomorrow. Actually, no I'll start tonight."

Flint went on to explain his plan, who he would enlist to help him, when he expected to complete each item…

And that's when Buffett asked him about the second list, "And what about these other 20 things on your list that you didn't circle? What is your plan for completing those?"

Flint replied, "Well the top 5 are my primary focus, but the other 20 come in at a close second. They are still important so I'll work on those intermittently as I see fit as I'm getting through my top 5. They aren't as urgent, but I still plan to give them a dedicated effort."

To which Buffett replied:

"No. You've got it wrong, Mike. Everything you didn't circle just became your 'avoid at all cost list.' No matter what, these things get no attention from you until you've succeeded with your top 5."

Semper Fi
Gunny Mike
zilchworks.com

Monday, March 5, 2018

Embarcadero Discontinues the Sale of Upgrade Products

I received an email today informing me that as of April 1, 2018 Embarcadero will discontinue the sale of upgrade products for Rad Studio, Delphi and C++ Builder.

My first reaction was "OMG here we go again." Bailey didn't do a very good job at explaining what this means to me, a non-subscription owner of Delphi 10 Seattle. Fortunately, Malcolm Groves put out a fantastic video that explains what this means and what it will cost going forward.

I also found out from Bailey that Embarcadero is offering a 25% discount until March 31, 2018. So, for a non-subscription Delphi Enterprise user like me, that means $1,824 US. Ouch!

After listening to Malcolm describe what is really going on here, I don't feel as panic stricken as I did when I first read the email. $1,824 will get me up-to-date with Delphi 10.2.2 and give me a 12 month update subscription. Next year when my current subscription runs out it should cost approximately 23% of the new user price or $809 which works out to be $68 per month.

Delphi Enterprise Non-Subscription Upgrade Cost

Year	Annual Cost	Monthly Cost
2018	$1,824	$152
2019	$809	$68

$809 is 23% of $3,514 (Current New User License)

Semper Fi
Gunny Mike
zilchworks.com

Saturday, January 13, 2018

Playing With Fire(Monkey)

If you are like me and have been apprehensive about using FireMonkey let me offer you a renewed sense of hope. It's unfortunate that this hopefulness comes as the Delphi community morns the loss of Pawel Glowacki. However, Pawel will continue to influence at least this Delphi programmer, perhaps you, and undoubtedly many, many more.

I discovered the existence of Pawel's "Expert Delphi" book while reading one of the many R.I.P. blog posts. I sent myself a reminder to go purchase his book. And, this weekend I did purchase his book. I'm glad I did. I look forward to "Playing with Fire(Monkey)"!

In August I blogged "Why My Next Software Product Will Be Windows VCL Only". Well, this book is not about the VCL. Makes my VCL statement kind of ironic, don't you think. This book is about using Delphi FireMonkey to create cross-platform Mobile Apps from one code base. I did not know this about his book when I wrote that post. Taking on a new coding platform is a daunting task. I'm stepping up to the plate and taking on this task with the help of Pawel's book. I welcome you to join me in discovering how to "Play with Fire(Monkey)".

Purchase Link:

https://www.packtpub.com/application-development/expert-delphi

Expert Delphi - Preface

The world of a mobile app developer is getting more and more complicated. The technology is not standing still. Every day, new versions of mobile operating systems are released to the market. Mobile devices are getting new capabilities. User expectations are constantly growing, and it is becoming increasingly harder to meet them.

The only way to meet and exceed all challenges in the contemporary world of mobile development is to become a developer superhero! Super heroes have super tools. In this book, we are going to embark on the journey of mastering Delphi development. We will learn how to gain amazing productivity powers and rapidly build stunning cross-platform mobile apps from one codebase.

We will start with getting comfortable with using the Delphi IDE. Then, we will review the key constructs of the Object Pascal language and everyday programmer tasks, so you can easily understand and write solid and maintainable source code. Over the course of this book, the fun levels are only going to increase. We will start our adventure with mobile development with Delphi from building small projects that will make you feel like a real Delphi developer. Having mastered simple things, you will be ready for doing more serious stuff. We will go deep into understanding the concept of FireMonkey styles, which is the cornerstone of building stunning cross-platform user interfaces that will make the difference in the end user experience of your apps. The rest of the journey is all about gaining practical knowledge of using more complex Delphi frameworks. We will get down to the metal and harness the full power of mobile hardware and operating systems. We will be working with sensors, extending to the Internet of Things, building data-driven user interfaces, embedding mobile databases, integrating with REST web services, architecting scalable, multiuser backends, and more.

This book is packed with practical code examples and best practices for you to become an excellent mobile developer!

Expert- Delphi - Table of Contents

1: FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS

Delphi installation
Delphi compilers and toolchains
Hello World app
Deploying to mobile devices
Summary

2: MIND YOUR LANGUAGE

Do you speak Object Pascal?
Object Pascal Phrase Book
Summary

3: PACKING UP YOUR TOOLBOX

Parallel Programming Library
Working with files
JSON
XML
Summary

4: PLAYING WITH FIREMONKEY

Drawing in code
Get moving with timers
The power of parenting
Touch me
Game of Memory
Summary

5: FIREMONKEY IN 3D

Cross-platform 3D rendering
Using Context3D
Custom Wireframe component
Objects 3D
Moving Earth
Building an interactive 3D scene
Using 3D models
Starfield simulation
Mixing 3D and 2D
Summary

6: BUILDING USER INTERFACES WITH STYLE

Working with built-in styles
Using custom styles
Embedding styles as resources
Customizing styles
Using frames
Working with inherited views
Previewing forms on devices
Summary

7: WORKING WITH MOBILE OPERATING SYSTEM

James Bond's toy
What I'm running on?
The life of an app
Sensing the world
Taking photos
Using share sheets
Camera, light, action!
Working with address book
Notify me!
Navigating the web
Working with maps
Creating and consuming Android services
Delphi language bridges
Summary

8: EXTENDING TO THE INTERNET OF THINGS

Communication protocols
Understanding BLE
Connecting to things with ThingConnect
Getting close with beacons
Proximity solutions with BeaconFence
App tethering
Summary

9: EMBEDDING DATABASES

Architecting data-driven apps
Modeling data
Choosing a database
Accessing databases with FireDAC
Building data-driven user interface
Using visual live bindings
Fast user interface prototyping
Summary

10: INTEGRATING WITH WEB SERVICES

Understanding web services
Native HTTP client
Consuming XML SOAP web services
Integrating with REST services
Backend as a service client
Integrating with the cloud
Summary

11: BUILDING MOBILE BACKENDS

Delphi and multi-tier architectures
Getting low-level with WebBroker
Do it yourself with DataSnap
Easy REST API publishing with RAD Server
Summary

12: APP DEPLOYMENT

Deploying to App Stores
Enhancing your apps
Summary

13: THE ROAD AHEAD

What we have learned
Staying on top of everything
Your next Delphi mobile app
Summary

Expert Delphi - Prerequisites

You are expected to have a basic knowledge of Delphi and an interest in building crossplatform mobile apps for Android and iOS.

The Delphi IDE is a Windows program, so you will need a physical or virtual Windows installation. In order to develop for iOS, you will need a Mac computer. You will also need an Enterprise or Architect license for Delphi itself. In the beginning of the first chapter of this book, we cover the installation process of Delphi in a great detail.

Purchase Link:

https://www.packtpub.com/application-development/expert-delphi

Semper Fi,
Gunny Mike
zilchworks.com

Thursday, January 4, 2018

I've Been Telling the Wrong Product Stories

This post has nothing to do with Delphi other than it's the software development tool I use. In November of last year I finally purchased Microsoft Office 365. A couple days later I received a promotional email introducing me to Microsoft Virtual Academy (https://mva.microsoft.com/).

I visited the MVA site, signed up for a free account, and by pure dumb luck stumbled across an amazing set of videos designed to teach you how to create stories. The video series is called "Crash Course: Analytics Storytelling for Impact". (https://goo.gl/oFEc9F) This video series was put together to teach people how to present data analytics in a very impactful way. Although it's focus is on how to present data analytics, it has a very unique set of videos all about stories and storytelling.

The storyteller is Mario Juarez and he is phenomenal. The third video "Definition of a Story" (https://goo.gl/L5e1g8) hit me like a ton of bricks. It was as if everything all of the sudden fell into place. All the previous stuff I had read or heard about marketing such as; don't sell features sell benefits finally made sense.

In the past no matter how hard I had tried I always wound up telling what Jaurez refers to as "transactional stories". The description of the thing I did. The transaction or process. What I built, how it works, the sequencing of events. Sound familiar.

The stories I need to tell are what Juarez calls "transcendent stories". These are stories of how human life changed because of the interaction with your product. Transcendent stories go to the place of human experience and human values and human meaning.

Watch this video series. They will change they way you talk about your products.

The first story I'm working on is for my Credit Card Math product. I've created a fictitious customer persona called Kate. The story I'm creating is "How Credit Card Math Saved Kate's Marriage." The story model I'm using is defined by Kurt Vonnegut as "Man in hole". (https://youtu.be/oP3c1h8v2ZQ)

Here's a sneak peak at Kate:

My first video is taking me longer than I expected. Hopefully it will be completed soon. I'm very excited to see how this whole process goes.

Semper Fi,
Gunny Mike
zilchworks.com