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Delphi for .NET Developer's Guide
by Xavier Pacheco

Publisher: Sams Buy it Now! 

ISBN: 0672324431
Format: Paperback, 888pp
CD: YES

I don't know about you, but I expect much from the only book (as I'm aware of, currently - 10/2004) on the first version of Delphi for the Microsoft .NET framework. With the fact that no printed documentation ships in the Delphi 8 box - it's normal from a Delphi developer to set high expectation for this title. Let's see if this book offers what you are looking for...

Delphi for .NET Developer's Guide starts with a concise introduction to .NET and to the Delphi language, continues with the most important features of the new Delphi for .NET IDE. I the first three chapters (some 350 pages) such subjects as assemblies, GDI+ programming, File and Streaming Operations, Collections, Mono - A Cross Platform .NET Project, Reflection, and memory management are discussed. The fourth chapter (130 pages) is devoted to ADO.NET, the last chapter discusses ASP.NET.

The book offers just a small coverage of VCL for .NET or migration details from VCL to .NET. Borland Data Provider is too covered in small details (only a small chapter in the part on ADO.NET, and no coverage at all in the ASP.NET part of the book).

It's hard to say whether you should buy this book today or tomorrow. This is not a mistake - since this is the only book on Delphi for .NET, I do suggest it. If you are an experienced Delphi developer looking for topics on how to leverage your Delphi skills and learn how to do things in .NET, I have to say you will not be 100% satisfied. I was looking for more BDP coverage and far more tips'n'tricks in the world od Delphi for .Net. If you are a Delphi beginner just starting to learn Delphi and Delphi 8 is your choice ... hm, you don't have any choices. Note however that this book is not a simple "click here to set a property" type of introduction to programming.

The overall feeling of the book is that it covers an excellent range of topics. As both Delphi and .Net are large subjects I think Xavier has managed the content very well - there's something for everybody. I just hope we'll see some more books with "Delphi" and ".Net" in titles.

The book comes with a CD packed with valued materials. All the source code samples are there as well as The Delphi 6 Developers Guide - a nice bonus if you are still developing for Win32 in Delphi 6/7.