Is this book good?

[sabino]

I can't find recently written books about Pascal because nowaday, only Delphi books are written  ... On eBay, I've seen an old book for sale, it's titled "Computer Programming in Pascal", written by David Lightfoot and published in 1992. Would it be suitable? 
Or, should I buy a book about Delphi? If yes, what version (to avoid incompatibilities)? Thank you.

[lainz]

Hi, wow I've learned everything online.

The Wiki has a lot of information. There are a lot of websites training you how to program in pascal.

There are books that comes with FPC
http://freepascal.org/docs.var

These are really usefull. This in particular:
http://freepascal.org/docs-html/ref/ref.html

[sabino]

Hi, wow I've learned everything online.

The Wiki has a lot of information. There are a lot of websites training you how to program in pascal.

There are books that comes with FPC
http://freepascal.org/docs.var

These are really usefull. This in particular:
http://freepascal.org/docs-html/ref/ref.html

Thank you for the link. Yes, I will visit the reference documentation, but I prefer to have a physical book. Would a book from 1992 be good to start?

[lainz]

iam really not sure how much things have changed in pascal. these are a lot of years...

im user of the modern pascal i.e. fpc and lazarus. never used other thing

i think you can use that book and the reference to see what changed comparing both sources

somewhere there is a lazarus book too.. but I think that is digital too.

[sin_dragan]

Try to find book from Marco Cantu, Essential pascal, it covers Lazarus also.

[kapibara]

At Amazon you can find used Delphi books in good condition and to very low price. Some are "average", some are masterpieces.

Marco Cantu's "Object Pascal Handbook" might become the "golden standard" when it is released. I've read the preview and none of all the books (+30) I have can touch it. But it might take a year before it becomes available: http://blog.marcocantu.com/blog/2015-march-object-pascal-handbook-update.html

In the meantime, look at some other good book. Maybe one of these:

1) Delphi 2 by Example (Very well structured and good to read)
2) Discover Pascal in Delphi  (Written by a female teacher!)

[gour]

Hello, new FPC/Lazarus user here...
 

Marco Cantu's "Object Pascal Handbook" might become the "golden standard" when it is released.

The above book is released and I wonder if it is good for learning Free Pascal or it might be too tied with Delphi's features?

Another option, for me, is to order the bundle ?

Let me say that I was using Turbo Pascal, but it was >20yrs ago. Moreover, familiar with several languages, but did not program for some time...

Any hint?

[emeyer]

Hi, I'm a newbie here to Pascal and Lazarus.  I have programming experience as a Java developer though.

Anyway, I just ordered Marco Cantu's "Object Pascal Handbook".  I guess I'll learn by trial and error (and perhaps from help from this forum) if it is too Delphi centric.

Hopefully, I can report back after a while of referring to it about how good the book is.

Eddie

[gour]

Anyway, I just ordered Marco Cantu's "Object Pascal Handbook".

Heh, I did the same - it has arrived and I like it...

[Jay]

I know this is an old thread but I'm considering buying Marco Cantu's Object Pascal Handbook to learn OOP, so any feedback on it? It seems the book is targeted specifically at Delphi users but from what I've read the differences between Delphi and Lazarus/FP are minor so I guess it would still be useful.

I have an old book (1993) on TP 7 but it's really the  OO stuff I need to get my head around, and I'm guessing that the OOP features have changed quite a bit since those days.

I know there is lots of stuff on the Wiki but I prefer to have a real book with all the info in one place.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[kapibara]

For the fun of it, during the last 3 years I have collected most every Delphi and Pascal book I came across. There are more than you think! :-) And they don't cost too much used at Amazon either. So I can say that if it's OOP you want, then Cantu's Object Pascal Handbook is top of the line and for the most part very useful for FreePascal and Lazarus. There are other books that cover OOP pretty good too but not by far as thorough as Cantu. Carlie Calvert's "Delphi Unleashed" contains a number of chapters and is a big allround, useful and easy to read "bible". I am pleased with first edition from 1995. Then there is Cantu's "Mastering Delphi 4, 5, 6 or 7". and Delphi Developers guide. Consider buying them all, you will learn new stuff from each of them.

[bee]

FYI, Marco Cantu's Object Pascal Handbook is now available for free. It's included with the free edition of Delphi Berlin. Go get both the book and Delphi so you now have two options for Pascal languages, FPC/Lazarus and Delphi. Have fun with them! 

[Jay]

Thanks guys. I don't have a Windows licence (I'm using Linux), so that rules out Delphi, but I'll buy the book.

[Thaddy]

One of Marco Cantu's book about Object Pascal is free and on-line.
It is an excellent introduction be it on Windows or Linux.

I don't know the book mentioned. Which is weird, since if it was any good and from around 1989-2003 I would have owned it. 

I seem to remember Gordon Lightfoot, but that has nothing to do with Object Pascal.

[Jay]

One of Marco Cantu's book about Object Pascal is free and on-line.
It is an excellent introduction be it on Windows or Linux.

Do you have a link for it? 

I don't know the book mentioned. Which is weird, since if it was any good and from around 1989-2003 I would have owned it. 

This one was only published last year.

http://www.marcocantu.com/objectpascalhandbook/