Delphi resources for existing .NET developer.

Question

Can anyone recommend some decent resources for a .NET developer who wishes to get a high level overview of the Delphi language?

We are about acquire a small business whose main product is developed in Delphi and I am wanting to build up enough knowledge to be able to talk the talk with them.

Books, websites etc all appreciated.

Thanks.

Answer 1

http://www.delphifeeds.com/ is a good place to start, it has most news about what is going on in the delphi community.

Answer 2

• DelphiBasics gives a good overview of basic syntax, library functions etc.
• Essential Delphi is a free e-book by Marco Cantu that should give a good overview, also of the VCL

Feel free to ask around here as well, or in the Delphi newsgroups, if you encounter specific issues :)

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[edit] @Martin:

• There's a free "Turbo" edition available at the Codegear/Embarcadero website. I guess it has some limitations, so you could also try downloading the trial version.

Answer 3

Just a trivia -- Anders Hejlsberg, the chief architect of Delphi, is also the lead architect of C#.

Answer 4

There's also a Delphi wiki: http://delphi.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page This even has a "Beginning Delphi" page with lots of external links on it. (some of them already mentioned)

Answer 5

Thankyou for the advice, it's given me some starting points to get on the ladder.

Is there by any chance a freebie version I can download and play with (ala the express .net versions) or is it a pay-for only product?

Answer 6

There are a number of videos by Alister Christie at codegearguru - check them out :)

edit... @Martin, check out the Turbo products at CodeGear

Answer 7

@Martin there is a free version.

Turbo Delphi

If you are comfortable with c# you will see many similarities with Delphi.

I also found the community surrounding the newsgroups to be active and helpful. They have a smilar concept to MVPs they were called Team B (but as Borland doesn't own them the name may have changed now).