Learning Lazarus

[evilmrb]

Hi there,
I am looking for some advice from seasoned Lazarus / Delphi coders. I want to have a stab at learning to program with Lazarus and I need a good book to help. I know there is an official Lazarus Guide but both the book and the delivery costs are expensive. I noticed there are many very cheap used books on Delphi by Marco Cantu & Charlie Calvert et al and I was wondering which one would be best. I have an old book for Delphi 1.0 but I'm wondering if a book on a later version of Delphi (e.g. v4.0) would be better.

I have installed Lazarus 1.2 and I am ready to get going. Does anyone have any suggestions, please?

Thanks,

Mark B

[exdatis]

http://wiki.freepascal.org/Lazarus_Faq
http://wiki.freepascal.org/Lazarus_Tutorial
ftp://ftp.freepascal.org/pub/fpc/docs-pdf/ref.pdf

[evilmrb]

Thanks for the reply exdatis.

I was aware of some of those things already. I guess I should have asked a more specific question. I know I need a comprehensive tutorial & reference because I'm not too good at picking things up piecemeal. What would really help me is knowing which version of Delphi is closest in functionality to Lazarus 1.2. Then, I will find a cheap used book for that version of Delphi. Does that make sense?
So far, I had this one in mind: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0782123503/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=F8N7CQ26NVXT&coliid=I3TSVB316WDU7Q

 

[Rails]

Marco used to have some of his older versions available free on line, but I can no longer find them.   

I suggest choosing the latest version you can find for a reasonable price.

There are also a number of Delphi tutorials available on line. Here are just two.

http://www.delphibasics.co.uk/
http://delphi.about.com/od/beginners/a/delphicourse.htm

[exdatis]

In my opinion, Delphi 7, but freepascal is much more flexible, there is more power.....

[exdatis]

Just type from search what you want to know, there is so many excellent answers, examples etc.
Best regards and good luck!

[evilmrb]

Thanks guys, some really useful resources there.