I'm working on a new book covering Delphi's Object Pascal language from the ground up to the most advanced features.
Getting the Ebook
You can get a draft of the ebook (in PDF format) today as part of an Embarcadero promotion: It is free if you buy Delphi XE7 in the next month (taking advantage of the "upgrade for all" promo) , or if you are a registered user:
Promo: www.embarcadero.com/radoffer
Ebook: cc.embarcadero.com/item/30018
Book Information
Some information about the book (including the list of final chapters -- currently 70% is available) is in a specific page of my old web site:
www.marcocantu.com/objectpascalhandbook/
For feedback and information I created two community pages:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/objectpascalhandbook
Google+: bit.ly/objectpascalgplus
And the code repository (still not complete) is at:
code.marcocantu.com/trac/marcocantu_objectpascalhandbook
A Book on Object Pascal
Enough links. What's the scope and the goals of the book. Let me copy some of the introduction text over:
" Power and simplicity, expressiveness and readability, great for learning and for professional development alike, these are some of the traits of today's Object Pascal, a language with a long history, a lively present, and a brilliant future ahead.
Object Pascal is a multi-facet language. It combines the power of object-oriented programming, advanced support for generic programming and dynamic constructs like attributes, but without removing support for more traditional style of procedural programming. A tool for all trades, with compilers and development tools embracing the mobile era. A language ready for the future, but with solid roots in the past.
What is the Object Pascal language for? From writing desktop apps to client-server applications, from massive web server modules to middleware, from office automation to apps for the latest phones and tablets, from industrial automated systems to Internet virtual phone networks... this is not what the language could be used for, but what it is currently used for today, in the real world.
The core of the Object Pascal language as we use today comes from its definition in 1995, a terrific year for programming languages, given that this was the year Java and JavaScript were also invented. While the root of the language dates back to its Pascal ancestor, its evolution didn't stop in 1995, with core enhancements continuing as of today, with the desktop and mobile compilers build by Embarcadero Technologies and found in Appmethod, Delphi, and RAD Studio."
The Book's Approach to the Language
"Given the changing role of the language, its extension over the years, and the fact it is now attracting new developers, I felt it important to write a book that offers complete coverage of the Object Pascal language as it is today . The goal is to offer a language manual for new developers, for developers coming from other similar languages, but also for old timers of different Pascal dialects that want to learn more about recent language changes.
Newcomers certainly need some of the foundations, but given changes have been pervasive even old-timers will find something new in the initial chapters.
Beside a short Appendix covering the short history of the Object Pascal language, this book was written to cover the language as it is today. A large part of the core features of the language hasn't changed significantly since the early versions of the Delphi, the first implementation of modern Object Pascal in 1995.
As I'll hint throughout the book, the language has been far from stagnant during all of these years, it has been evolving at quite a fast pace. In other books I wrote in the past, I followed a more chronological approach, covering classic Pascal first, and following extensions more or less as they appeared over time. In this book, however, the idea is to use a more logical approach, progressing through the topics and covering how the language works today, and how to best use it, rather than how it evolved over time. As an example, native data types dating back to the original Pascal language have method-like capabilities (thanks to intrinsic type helpers) introduced recently. So in Chapter 2 I'll introduce how to use this feature, although it won't be until much later than you'll figure out how to make such custom type extensions.
In other words, this book covers the Object Pascal language how it is today, teaching it from the ground up, with only a very limited historical perspective. Even if you have used the language in the past, you might want to skim thought the entire text looking for newer features, and not focus only on the final chapters."
Going Forward
So what's next? I plan finishing the book before the end of the year, and Embarcadero will likely make updates available to active customers. After I get some feedback from readers, and finish cleaning up the text and the demos, I'll publish a printed version of the book. That's expected next year. Needless to say feedback is welcome, using one of the pages mentioned above or eve direct email.
Happy reading. That's my 16th Delphi-related book, hope it is useful as most of the previous ones.