This blog post is based on a pre-release version of the RAD Studio software and it has been written with specific permission by Embarcadero. No feature is committed until the product GA release. There are many improvements coming in Delphi 12, as we are seeing in the Yukon beta. String Literals String literals in Delphi…
Author: admin
Why Comments
Discussions about commenting code can be surprisingly heated. Some will say that good code should explain itself, and needs no comments. Others will insist on the need for comments without actually approaching any discussion of how to distinguish good from bad comments. Bad comments are easy enough to recognize. Many simply repeat in plain language…
Keep it Small
Small is good. Small is simple. We should strive to keep things small in our development work. Keep routines short and simple. Use as few local variables as possible. Avoid long parameter lists. Keep scope as narrow as possible. If you find yourself challenged by these things, it suggests the need for practice and thought….
YAGNI: Is it Absolute?
YAGNI – You Ain’t Gonna Need It – is a useful principle in software development and rework. But should it be a hard rule? I will argue that it should be a guide, not a rule. But also, that the context is a major factor in determining which view should apply. The first and obvious…
On Forms…
It seems that relatively few Delphi developers routinely make use of the anchors and constraints on forms. Why this should be is a mystery to me, but I am only commenting on observations. When you create a form and place some controls, the anchors for the controls are, by default, set to top and left….
Book Review: Delphi Memory Management
Many people working on Delphi projects may not have given much thought to memory management. You may think that there is little need to study the subject, and depending on the nature of your projects, that may be true. But it is always good to increase your understanding of what Delphi is doing, and how…
Embarcadero Webinar
Yesterday (27 October 2022) I presented in an Embarcadero webinar on the subject of my book. Attendance was very good, and response was very positive. The presentation content can be downloaded as a PDF here. The webinar is available now on youtube. You can also read a review of the book here: https://dalijap.blogspot.com/2022/06/book-review-delphi-legacy-projects.html. I welcome…
Organization as Strategy
Software design is greatly a matter of good organization. Legacy software projects are often lacking in that very quality. Although the topic is very large, this article will focus on a smaller area. Constants and types are essential to good design. The scope of these declarations is worth more consideration than it is often given….
Component Longevity
Over the last couple of days I have been searching for some components I want to use in a project to illustrate my writing. There are, of course, many great components out there in open source, and often the struggle is simply to choose one. In this case, however, there seemed to be many choices,…
Sober Reflection
In my book I wrote that we may be the enemy. Delphi is a powerful tool, but is not free from defects. Any non-trivial software has defects. All too often we may find cause to complain of the IDE, and some of those complaints are surely justified, but what role have we played in introducing…