Greetings!!
Just received my copy a couple of days ago. It took about 2 weeks to get to the states so American buyers have patience. I'm very excited to get started with it!!
There is a LOT of content here and pages are not wasted with simple forms and graphics like so many tech books have these days - IOW no extra or wasted whitespace. At first look, it appears that one of the main objectives is to clarify the differences between Lazarus and Delphi. But there seems to be a nice balance between rudimentary (beginners) code and the intermediate material. Since this is the first book on Lazarus, the more advanced Delphi user may be a bit frustrated with the "This is a list box control" portions of the book, but it looks to me like anyone with some programming experience could read and study from the book and do well, even with no Delphi experience. And the CD that comes with the book is full of examples and code, too. And I'm also glad to have it as a guide to port Delphi code and components.
I started with Lazarus many years ago when it was still young, but I was pulled away from programming in general so I have to play catch-up. I'm very impressed with what the team has accomplished! Since I have little use for the new Embarcadero Delphi, I'm staying with D7 but will begin focusing on Lazarus now. I have to be able to produce applications for Linux, and Kylix 3 is just too much frustration (and 10 years old).
So anyway, it's a thumbs up for the new book and I would recommend it - if nothing else than to throw a few $$ at the folks that have really created a masterpiece (or work in progress).
