February 24, 2009
Zarko Gajic of About.com has just published a review of my latest book on Delphi 2009.
Zarko Gajic of About.com has just published a review of my latest book on Delphi 2009. I wonder why I don't find time for writing a bit more... including republishing some of my old material, addressing his criticism and getting out a book for new Delphi developer, not only books for existing ones. Anyway, thanks for the 4 and a half stars...
Its only "cons" should be moved to the "pros" section. It is true people wanting to learn Delphi need beginner-level books, but it is also true experienced developers need books at their skill level - they won't buy anymore 1500 pages book to read just two or three chapters. I believe also smaller books focused on specific facets are far better than huge - up to the point of being difficult to read - all-embracing but often scanty due to lack of space books. A "Delphi handbooks" serie with titles like "Delphi Essentials Handbook", "Delphi Database Developer Handbook", "Delphi VCL Developer Handbook", "Delphi Web Developer Handbook" would be interesting, while print-on-demand service should make it more feasible, developers would be allowed to build their own "mastering delphi" library.
I agree with Luigi. Think carefully about your target audience and don't spread yourself too thin. Yes, write books for beginners, but keep them as focused as the Delphi 2009 Handbook. Great work.
I agree with Luigi. The argument is too vast to be treated in a single all-purpose book. Maybe in the past, but it's not true anymore. All-purpose means imho satisfy noone, if not real beginners. Time to study is more and more tight (or maybe I'm only getting older? <g>) and we need to put in practice "selective ignorance".. ie study only what is relevant for our day-to-day activity. So for me a big +1 to smaller, really focused books.... For beginners, I think that even a not up-to-date book covering past versions is good enough to start.
A book that helped me greatly with the really fundamental stuff was 'Discover Delphi'
Well done! I have been away from Delphi for 5 years, and miss every day. Off topic: are the numbers of Delphi users growing, shrinking, staying the same? Are people building Winform (.NET) apps using Delphi, or sticking to Win32 desktop apps? Again, congratulations.
I buy each of your Delphi books as soon as they are available, and I wouldn't see a lot of value in throwing everything about Delphi into them. I like being able to read one small(ish) book bringing me up to speed on everything new. That said, I know from other coders that one of the biggest complaints about Delphi is that there is no good book (singular) to get them into it fresh. There must be a market for both. Keep up the good work.
Focusing on experienced developers is a good thing. Too many books spend most of their pages explaining the basics.
Where can I find the table of contents for your book? I'm looking for some help with TWordApplications and am wondering if it is covered in this book.
Click here for posting your feedback to this blog.
There are currently 0 pending (unapproved) messages.