Here's how I will code better in Delphi. How will you?

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When it comes to Delphi, it's amazing how much I don't know, once knew but forgot, or just plain skipped over because it was too mind-boggling at the time. I took a break from reading Alister Christie's new book "Code Better in Delphi", which I purchased last night, to write this blog post.

https://amzn.to/4dE8oOq (Paperback)

While reading the bit on "refactoring", I realized how little refactoring I actually put into practice. Yes, I have Fowler's book, the second edition. And no, I haven't read it. I've thumbed through it a little in the past. I even tried looking for the "Introduce Explaining Variable" refactor Christie discusses on page 53 of his book. It turns out Fowler now calls it "Extract Variable". Keeping Fowlers "Refactoring" book on my desk, and referring to it often, is one way I am going to code better in Delphi.

It's amazing how much I don't know or once knew but forgot

I just started reading "The Observer Pattern" in Christie's book and had to stop. I bought "Head First Design Patterns" by O'Reilly, quite a few years ago. I have the 10th Anniversary edition with code examples in Java 8. My intent was to install Java on my machine and force myself to learn these patterns by following the code in the book. It didn't go so well. The authors do a great job using story to make learning fun. I just couldn't wrap my head around Java.

Christie has managed to reignite my desire to learn these patterns. I downloaded the Java source code. I plan to work my way through "Head First Design Patterns" pasting the Java source code into ChatGPT, and asking Chat to convert it to Delphi.

I will navigate through each pattern using this method. I will then revisit the same pattern in Primoz Gabrijelcic's book "Hand-On Design Patterns with Delphi". This is another way I'm going to learn to code better in Delphi. 

Another way is to revisit the Model-View-Controller method of code separation. Here is a the MVC song from 2007 I just learned about today. 

And I also want to implement "Interfaces".

Here's my list of how I will code better in Delphi:

• Finish reading Christie's book 
• Practice refactoring often
• Learn and implement design patterns
• Discover and utilize ways to separate code concerns such as MVC or MVVM
• Overcome my stumbling block of Interfaces

Use the comments below to share how you will code better in Delphi.

Enjoy
Semper Fi
Gunny Mike

https://zilchworks.com

Note: Some links in this post are affiliate links, meaning I may receive a small commission if you make a purchase. This helps support my work – thank you for your understanding.

Use ChatGPT to Convert Other Language Source Code to Delphi

If you've read some of my previous posts you know how much I've struggled to make the paradigm shift from being a top-down, procedural programmer to an OOP programmer. I've purchased several books on OOP. And one book series I thought would hold some promise are "The Object-Oriented Thought Process" books written by Matt Weisfeld. I have four different editions on my book shelf.

I struggle with OOP for several reasons. One very frustrating reason is the lack of Delphi/Pascal examples used by authors. Most of the code examples are written in Java, or C, or C# or some language other than Delphi/Pascal.

The last bullet point on page 3 of Weisfled's fourth edition, listed under the heading of "What's New in the Fourth Edition", states:

• Expanded code examples, for certain chapters, in Java, C# .NET, VB .NET, and Objective-C available online on the publisher's website

No Object Pascal or Delphi examples!

No Object Pascal or Delphi examples. I reached out to Weisfeld asking if he might include Object Pascal examples and received a negative response.

I love Pascal. It's elegant. It's easy to read and understand. I've been using Pascal/Delphi since 1985. (2023-1985=38 years). Besides SQL, it's my main programming language. Ok, I confess, I did Active Server Pages (APS) and VB Script for about 10 years.

I've tried loading Java onto my machine so I could follow along and learn the OOP concepts but I just can't wrap my head around the Java syntax.

Today, I discovered the answer that works for me. ChatGPT!

I asked ChatGPT to convert the following Java code from page 24 of "The Object-Oriented Thought Process" to Delphi and the results were very hopeful.

public class IntSquare {

  // private attribute
  private int squareValue;
  
  //public interface
  public in getSquare (int value) {
    
    squareValue = calculateSquare(value);
    return SquareValue
  
  }
  
  //private implementation
  private int calculation (int value) {
    return Math.pow(value,2);
  }
}

Here are the results returned from ChatGPT:

type
TIntSquare = class
private
FSquareValue: Integer;
function CalculateSquare(value: Integer): Integer;
public
function GetSquare(value: Integer): Integer;
end;

implementation

function TIntSquare.CalculateSquare(value: Integer): Integer;
begin
Result := value * value;
end;

function TIntSquare.GetSquare(value: Integer): Integer;
begin
FSquareValue := CalculateSquare(value);
Result := FSquareValue;
end;

end.

I know the results are not the indented and formatted code you would get from inside the IDE. This was my first attempt at using ChatGPT. I took several screen shots of my interaction with ChatGPT so I can show you what happened.

Here is my entire ChatGPT session:

Here is the final output from ChatGPT.

uses
  System.Math;
  
type
  TIntSquare = class
  private
    FSquareValue: Integer;
    function GetSquareValue: Integer;
    procedure SetSquareValue(const Value: Integer);
    function CalculateSquare(value: Integer): Integer;
  public
    property SquareValue: Integer read GetSquareValue write SetSquareValue;
    function GetSquare(value: Integer): Integer;
  end;

implementation

function TIntSquare.CalculateSquare(value: Integer): Integer;
begin
  Result := Round(Power(value, 2));
end;

function TIntSquare.GetSquare(value: Integer): Integer;
begin
  SquareValue := CalculateSquare(value);
  Result := SquareValue;
end;

function TIntSquare.GetSquareValue: Integer;
begin
  Result := FSquareValue;
end;

procedure TIntSquare.SetSquareValue(const Value: Integer);
begin
  FSquareValue := Value;
end;

end.

This looks very promising! Give ChatGPT a try converting code.
https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/

Enjoy!
Semper Fi
Gunny Mike https://zilchworks.com