Rating:  - The Simple Approach Works
This is the third book in this series that I have purchased.
Once again the simple examples presented are excellent in providing the information that developers need to get started.
Once the principles are clearly understood it is easy to proceed to build more complex systems.
Some people complain that the books explanations are not sufficiently 'in depth'. To this complaint I would reply that if you need greater depth then look elsewhere. Once most developers understand the basic principles they usually can work areas of greater depth.
If you are coming from another development language to Delphi, this book is an excellent place to start.
Rating: - Great for Beginners!
This book has helped me understand Delphi 5 with minimal problems. ALL of the examples worked, and that alone says something for this Author! Although I am not a starting fresh programmer, I found this book to be very helpful with understanding Delphi structures/components. I am transitioning from VB to Delphi, and this book really has shown me the ropes of Delphi! Much of the content overlaps what I already knew in VB, but showed me how it was done using Delphi.
I have read dozens of books written for C/C++, Java, VB, HTML, ASP, and this one really gets into the "meat" of what is going on (unlike most). Don't worry about non-intelligent examples -- THE POINT IS: to show how the component or methodology works, and if you are talented enough to understand this, you will easily turn those examples into real situations/solutions. I have found that by using the simple approach, a beginner will understand how something works one step at a time; instead of getting a real-world situation all at once to only be confused by its complexity. Have an open mind while reading ANY book, and you will understand it much better :-)
Anyway, this is a great book -- No doubting that. Marco Cantu really knows Delphi, and explains it very well. Great Job!
Rating:  - Not for Developers....
I've seen this book and it's no more effective or should I say inefective than the two other Marco Cantu books I wish I should not have purchased. Unfortunately, being a Delphi developer there is just too little reference material out there. Don't get suckered into buying any book with misleading titles. I happen to own the previous versions Developer's handbook and the Mastering Delphi book. I barely use them. This book like the others are geared more for beginners. Too many examples that don't apply to anything. My first purchase was a mistake, my second purchase was just plain stupid!
Rating: - Monster but worth it.
This book is a monster, which I usually despise; but Marco Cantu chose his words effectively and descriptively. Most everything I've looked for I've found in this book. It's a bit heavy, but definitely worth carrying around as a reference. It's the best Delphi reference book I've found so far. I wouldn't recommend reading it cover to cover, but look through the table of contents and pick the chapters you're most interested in. The index is useful as well.
Rating: - I wish I had read other reviews before buying this book :(
It is VERY badly structured, not at all comprehensive (despite the number of pages), and definitely not for the beginner who actually wants to do something rather than just marvel at the brilliance of Delphi 5.
For example, all I wanted to do (initially at least) was read some data (from an ascii text file) into an array and after processing it chuck the results out into another text file. Not until page 8 hundred and something was file I/O mentioned and then it was promptly ignored.
Reading this book made me think that I had to build a database in order to do this!
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