Hello,

I'm absolutely new to this list... and to Pascal. I was getting pretty good with Foxpro programming when MS bought and then changed the program, eventually to kill it. I see the need to get back into programming and I remember a Foxpro instructor saying that Pascal was similar. So here are my initial questions:
Should I learn study FPC first and then move on to Lazarus, or just start with Lazarus?
What books would you suggest?
My interest is still in databases. Anything else I should know about pointing myself in that direction?

Thanks.
Bill
Minden, NV

Bill wrote

Should I learn study FPC first and then move on to Lazarus, or just start with Lazarus?

I think it should be okay to start directly with Lazarus. Lazarus IDE makes project management much easier and has some fantastic editor features.

What books would you suggest?

I don't know about books, but any Delphi book should do. Free Pascal and Lazarus is very close to Delphi.
Also to a few Google searches on the topic. Again, whatever you find for Delphi should apply directly or at least very close to Lazarus. If you get stuck, you can always post your questions here or in the Lazarus mailing list.

http://www.delphibasics.co.uk/
http://www.bitwisemag.com/2/Learn-To-Program-Delphi-Part-One http://www.delphifusion.com/delphi/a-guide-to-learning-delphi.html

Some books:

* Learning to Program in Pascal and Delphi, ISBN: 978-1904467298
* Delphi in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference, ISBN: 978-1565926592
* Tomes Of Delphi: Basic 32-Bit Communications Programming, ISBN: 978-1556227523
* Mastering Borland Delphi 2005, ISBN: 978-0782143423

Regards,
- Graeme -

_______________________________________________
fpGUI - a cross-platform Free Pascal GUI toolkit
http://opensoft.homeip.net/fpgui/

Graeme,

Terrific answers and just what I was looking for. While I plugged around the net all yesterday morning I was unable to find the answer "any Delphi book should do." Thank you, thank you, thank you. Now I can plunk down my money and not expect to wait a week to find out that I am no closer to my solution. I will continue on with Lazarus and wait for my book to arrive.

I sincerely appreciate your answers. I will connect up with Amazon right now.

Bill

/ Should I learn study FPC first and then move on to Lazarus, or just start

/>/ with Lazarus?
/
I think it should be okay to start directly with Lazarus. Lazarus IDE makes project management much easier and has some fantastic editor features.

/ What books would you suggest?

/
"any Delphi book should do."

Regards,
- Graeme -

Bill wrote

I'm absolutely new to this list... and to Pascal. I was getting pretty good with Foxpro programming when MS bought and then changed the

Although I have not tried Lazarus, I am not sure it will compare to what you had in Foxpro. My impression is that Foxpro was higher level and you could do more with fewer lines of code than what you will do with Lazarus+libs.

Are you writing user facing type of apps or backed database work?

That's a partial truth, it takes the same time to create basic screens/dialogs using FoxPro or data aware components with Lazarus, but the level of customization and flexibility you can reach using Lazarus is way ahead of FoxPro.

Leonardo M. Ramé
http://leonardorame.blogspot.com