Introduction

Overview

Delphi, now in its 10th version, provides us with four programming languages: Delphi for Win32 and C++ for building Windows applications, and Delphi for .NET and C# for building applications that target the .NET platform. This book focuses on teaching you how to build applications using all four programming languages.

Generally speaking, this book is meant to be read from cover to cover because each chapter builds on the previous ones. But, since you may not have the time or the need to read the entire book, I’ve divided the material into three distinct sections to help you focus on what you want to learn:

• Delphi for Win32 and C++ languages (Chapters 1 to 10)

• VCL framework programming (Chapters 11 to 28)

• .NET programming (Chapters 29 and 30)

The reasons for covering both C++ and Delphi in the first part of the book are pretty simple:

• The Delphi IDE includes both C++ and Delphi for building Win32 applications, so why not have a book that describes both languages?

• Delphi for Win32 and C++ use the same VCL framework for building Win32 applications. Why get two books that cover exactly the same topics, when you can have one book that describes a certain topic and provides both Delphi and C++ code examples?

• The majority of Win32 source code on the web that is not written in Delphi is written in C/C++, so even if you’re a Delphi-only developer, it might be prudent to learn how to read, if not write, C++ code.

• The book also covers, albeit not in great detail, C#, the “default” language of the .NET framework. Since C# borrows from both Delphi and C++, the first two parts of the book teach you C# programming, although it is never mentioned.

The VCL part of the book shows how to build Windows applications using the VCL framework. The majority of the material in this part is written in Delphi, because it would serve no purpose—except to bore you to death—to show all examples in both Delphi and C++. C++ is explicitly covered only when there are large differences between Delphi and C++. C++ material is also, in almost all cases, placed at the end of a chapter, so you can skip those sections if you’re not interested in learning C++.

Another reason why Delphi is the preferred language in this part of the book is that Delphi VCL projects can be easily converted to VCL.NET projects. This means that you can have a single code base that can be used to produce both standard Win32 and managed .NET applications.

Finally, the last two chapters of the book cover .NET related topics and the C# language, but not exclusively. These two chapters also describe Win32 topics, especially those that relate to .NET topics or were introduced in Delphi for Win32 because of .NET.