Before you start writing code

... we're going to need a few Basic Resources There's a lot more to getting started and doing it right than running up the IDE. You need to arm yourself with some basic knowledge and practical reference material. Yes, Delphi is a RAD product and you can just jump in, start throwing interface objects linked to data controls onto forms and hit the run button to create a piece of "software" that "works" but if that's where you want to go ... what the heck are you doing here? Hobbyists and Occupational Developers, by definition [well, perhaps only as I would define them], have an innate desire to do things with precision and dedication - you won't get there thinking everything you need will be in the box. The resources available to you are simply massive in scope. A concise listing of everything that is out there is far more than what I have the resources to compile. So, we'll have to do with the resources that I rely on, usually daily, to get you started. Considering a target audience of occupational developers and hobbyists, this is my list of ... Can't live without books;

• Code Complete 2nd Edition by Steve McConnell A practical handbook to software construction is a very modest description [from the cover] of what it contains for the hobbyist and occupational developer. I almost stopped here ... I'm of the opinion that this book must be purchased. If you're anything like me; It will become your best friend. You will read it cover to cover and more than once. It will sit by your side and you'll flip to one of the many markers you have placed in it to refer to one aspect or another of the life of a program.
• Anything and Everything by Marco Cantu Anything and everything isn't the title of a particular book. It's to be taken literally. If you can get hold of a Cantu ... buy it. Start off with;
• Essential Pascal Free!
• Essential Delphi Free!
• Delphi Developer Handbook
• Mastering Borland Delphi 2005 with the Update for Delphi 2006
• Inside Delphi 2006 by Ivan Hladni An excellent handbook to keep at your side for quick reference to all the basic elements of Delphi for Object Pascal. Make sure you have a look at this book before you get your cash out. It covers both Delphi and C++ and may not be of interest to everyone. To me, it's as important as Code Complete - my copy is dog-eared, contains dozens of post-it-note markers and I use it all the time.
This by no means the full extent of my collection but it's certainly enough to get you started. I may publish my full library and a review of each of the books at some point in the future. The books you buy, may be required to be more specific to the tasks you have at hand. Hopefully, with the recent rejuvenation of the CodeGear product line, it will inspire some of the authors to update their books and make them current with the latest IDE.

Can't Live Without Reference Web Sites;

• Delphi Basics If you've got an Internet connection available to you all the time ... this one goes on your desktop. If you don't [or even if you do], purchase and download the Windows program. It's worth every cent!
• About Delphi Programming If you've got a problem or just want to see how things are done ... this is the spot for you. The only caveat about this site ... make sure you've got AddBlock enabled and running :) If something you want to see can't be found on the site, contact the host. Zarko is excellent.

Can't Live Without Search Web Sites;

• Google
• Search Borland* Newsgroup Database at Tamarack

Must Read Web Sites;

• DelphiFeeds All Delphi Blogs in one place ... is probably the best daily read for Delphi programmers there is.
• Delphi Wiki an excellent collaborative project from the Delphi community.
• Coding Horror by Jeff Atwood another daily read where you'll find great articles like these ones;
• Learning on the Battlefield
• Going Commando - Put Down The Mouse
and many, many more ...

Tutorials;

• by Nick Hodges of CodeGear ...
• Getting Started With Delphi -- A list of tutorials
• Thirty Camtasia Demos in Thirty Days
• a nine episode series for TurboDelphi by 3DBuzz

Finally ... newsgroups;

• the CodeGear [actually still called Borland] newsgroups are a resource that you can't ignore. If you manage to run into a problem that you can't resolve using any of the resources that I've listed so far -or- you like to learn from reading the discussions about problems others are having, then read the newsgroups! Get yourself a good newsgroup reader - I use XanaNews and dial it in to the CodeGear newsgroups. If Web based is your preference ... find what you need here.

As I've mentioned this only scratches the surface of what there is out there to help you get started writing professional software with Delphi for Object Pascal. I hope this small sampling of it helps you get where you need to go ... it's done alright by me. Thanks for stopping by, -- Dave

An Occupational ... what ???

I really can't believe how many time I see that question. It's not that tough to get your head around people. Well ... maybe from a perspective where the emphasis is seen to belong on the term developer instead of where it belongs - on occupational. If that's the case then ... I agree, it could be quite confusing trying to figure out why programmers would be involved in ... developing occupations? I find that to be a confusing concept as well. OTOH, the term occupational developer [with the emphasis where it belongs] is, in my personal view of the world, pretty straight forward. The way I understand the term: An occupational developer is someone who writes programs [probably more aptly defined as utilities] to be used to help them do their work. We probably tend to fall [or more precisely ... get shoved] into the more generic term of hobbyist. This actually is fine by me, I rather like being a hobbyist. As a matter of fact ... let's run with that - I'm a Delphi for Object Pascal, Hobbyist. To me, being a hobbyist means taking all the time that I need, to do what needs to be done ... to perfection. After all isn't that what hobbyists do? An occupational developer, OTOH, differs slightly from a hobbyist in that they're just trying to get a job done. They just need to create a tool/utility that will perform the task at hand. They may not want to spend a lot of time learning the intricacies of building robust extensible applications. One of the things I hope to do here, presupposing my definitions of the terms to be correct, is make it easy for an occupational developer to approach their projects as if they were hobbyists. After all, programming should be something you love to do as opposed to something you need to do. FWIW, the term "Occupational Developer" most certainly isn't anything I am laying claim to. The first time I ever heard of it was in during one of the first Delphi Hour sessions with Nick Hodges of CodeGear. So ... you gotta problem with the term - go see Nick, he coined it. I'm sure he'll be sooo happy to see you :-) Sorry Nick. Thanks for stopping by, -- Dave

TDelphiHobbyist.Create(Self);

Well, I'm not all that certain that we need yet another blog on programming. Having said that, it looks like we're going to get one anyway ... this post exists, here you are reading it and I really don't expect it will be the last I have to say on the matter. I'd like to start off by defining where I plan on going with this and a bit about myself. The name of the site is really apropos considering what I have in mind as to what you're going to find here. I'm an occupational developer* with a long standing interest in programming and creating my own tools for use at work. I've been puttering with computers and programming since the TI-99a that I owned back in 1982. My current IDE of choice is not much of a secret given the name of the blog ... Delphi for Object Pascal from CodeGear. I've been investigating Delphi for Object Pascal for nearly three years now. I did have a brief look at the the literature back when Delphi 2 was first released but decided to move from VB-DOS to VB3 anyway. In retrospect ... boy, was that a bad idea. Having said that, I did have fun with VB and I actually managed to get a couple of tools out the door. Both are still in use, both are exactly what you'd probably expect of an untrained newbie [with some exception], touching anything in either of them would likely blow them up and finally, both are in desperate need of an update ... enter Delphi. I'm a marine engineer by trade and have spent my entire career working for the same company doing coastal work. Creating an exceptional hobbyist out of self is the objective and I'm hoping that keeping track of the process here, will help someone else who's interested in becoming one themselves. In my Delphi journey, to date; I've produced a number of throw-aways, read hundreds [if not thousands] of lines of various types of source code, have a stack of [dog eared] computer books and have yet to write one functional line of code for any of my projects. I'm a firm believer in do it right or don't even bother ... I'm not doing things the way I did in VB any more! All this is fodder for more posts that I'll get to ... in time. The plan is ... a post a week. We'll see how it pans out from here.

******************************************************** program Project1; {$APPTYPE CONSOLE} uses SysUtils; begin writeln('Hello World'); end. ********************************************************

Thanks for stopping by, -- Dave * The term "Occupational Developer" most certainly isn't anything I am laying claim to. The first time I ever heard of it was in during one of the first Delphi Hour sessions with Nick Hodges of CodeGear.