Overview
Delphi is an object-oriented programming language based on Object Pascal. Initially, Delphi was created as a tool for building Windows apps and it was released in 1995. Since that time the technologies have made a serious step forward and Delphi is not an exception. Despite the fact that the first apps written in Delphi appeared around 20 years ago, today this language is still an appropriate choice for building modern apps with excellent performance and rich functionality. If you are also considering an option to become a Delphi developer or want to boost your skills, a great number of Delphi training resources are already waiting for you.
Things to know before you start studying Delphi
If you are planning to become a Delphi developer, there are different options for you. You can study this programming language at universities, offline courses or online. And of course, nowadays the latter option is the most preferable for many of us. First of all, this variant may allow you to save your time and combine your studies with a job. And secondly, quite often online education can be either rather cheap or absolutely free.
Today various online Delphi training courses are quite popular as today this programming language is still widely used. The list of its benefits includes but is not limited to:
- Clear syntax and comparatively simple coding
- Support of Windows APIs and SQL databases
- Quick GUI software development process
- Minimum maintenance requirements for Delphi applications
Delphi allows building apps of different types, including desktop, mobile native, cross-platform applications. Before you start studying this development tool, we recommend you to decide: what kind of apps you want to build in the future as the approaches to their development differ and you will need to focus on a particular one.
Delphi training: resources and links
As we’ve already noted there are a lot of resources for those who want to become a Delphi developer. Below you can see some examples of the most popular ones.
- Online Delphi Training offers 30-hour online video training programs, including the Delphi Video Object Pascal 6 and Delphi Web Services video series.
The video courses are targeted at different categories of developers. While the Delphi Web Services course is intended for specialists who have at least an intermediate understanding of the subject, the Delphi Video Object Pascal program will be of great use for those who just start their way in programming. The students of this course have the possibility to study the Delphi language from the very beginning step-by-step. After watching the instructor-led online course, the students are expected to advance their knowledge of Delphi and enrich their skills. The authors of the course can customize the program given the requirements of different teams and companies.
- Embarcadero Academy offers a wide range of Delphi courses for different levels that can be provided either individually or in different combinations under special requests. The majority of lectures included in these courses are pre-recorded. However, there are also various interactive online formats like conferences, bootcamps, live streaming video classrooms and others. Moreover, the activities offered are not limited to lectures only, there can also be quizzes and practice tasks. Instructors can offer different downloadable materials and items. As for the length of courses, there are options for everyone: micro-courses (one or more 1-hour or 2-hour lectures), mini-courses (lectures that can be completed in one day), complete courses (the length is multiple days or weeks). What’s more, Embarcadero Academy can attract the attention of those developers who want to pass Certification exams. For example, here you can take the Delphi Certified Developer exam.
- LearnDelphi.org is a platform driven by the community of volunteers. It was created by the Embarcadero Technologies team in close cooperation with developers and professors. The community allows absolutely everyone to use the offered content for educational purposes. All educational and training content is provided on this website for free. Among the provided materials you can find various books, slides, videos and labs for Delphi training sessions, links to different presentations, free tools for students and instructors and even recommendations on creating a good CV.
- The Thoughtco.com website provides free online programming courses for Delphi developers (mainly for beginners). Here it is possible to find a great variety of tutorials online courses and articles that will help you to get the basic knowledge of Delphi, study to design, code and test apps with Delphi.
- On Delphi Basics you can find a lot of tutorials designed for Delphi beginners as well as materials that will help you to start coding.
- LearnDelphi.tv provides a huge amount of Delphi instructional videos free of charge. Though the videos are not united as a comprehensive course, all together they help developers to get solid knowledge.
Moreover, we recommend you not to forget about such a popular online learning marketplace as udemy.com. It also has what to offer to Delphi developers with different qualifications.
Delphi programming books
Below you can find a list of excellent books that may help you in your studies:
- Coding in Delphi (2014) by Nick Hodges
- More Coding in Delphi (2015) by Nick Hodges
- Delphi Cookbook, 2nd Edition (2016) by Daniele Teti
- MVVM in Delphi (2016) by John Kouraklis
- Object Pascal Handbook (2015) by Marco Cantu
Though we’ve tried to gather in this article the most reliable and useful Delphi training resources, as you understand, the real list of all the materials provided is much longer. Moreover, new resources are regularly created and updated with the most up-to-date information. That’s why if you have decided to learn Delphi or deepen your knowledge, we recommend you to google for additional sources as well.
At Softacom, we work with Delphi software quite often as it is one of our major areas of specialization. Though all our developers have already gained rich experience and amazing theoretical knowledge, we never stop learning and looking for new information to create products with real value.
And good luck with your studies!
