The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Communications Programming Major Keary |
Wordware is not widely known as a publisher, but is a leader in texts on Delphi and its Linux port,
Kylix. Titles in a series, The Tomes of Delphi, deal with very specific programming issues;
I have not seen anything like them for focused technical detail.
Basic 32-Bit Communications Programming is an example of the series. Even though written for Delphi
developers, any programmer who needs information about Windows Sockets (Winsock) and the
Telephony Application Interface (TAPI) in the MS Windows environment should find this text a useful
resource.
Delphi is a professional development tool, but ordinary users have access to it; superseded (but still
supported) versions are sometimes distributed on CDs that come with computer magazines. They are not crippled,
demo versions, but fully functional.
The book is in two parts: the first - written by John Penman - deals with Internet/Intranet Programming
with Winsock, and the second - written by Alan Moore - covers Fundamentals of TAPI Programming.
The object is to show Delphi developers how "to add communications functionality to Windows applications
built with Delphi" and "how to write useful Internet/Intranet and telephony applications". An example is a
fully integrated point-of-sale application that requires information about each transaction to be
communicated to a central server by way of either direct telephony connection or an Internet/Intranet
connection.
The reader, who is assumed to be familiar with Delphi, is taken straight into the world of communications
programming. There is no hand-holding, but extensive use is made of example source code (which is also
contained on a companion CD). The information is detailed and supported by extensive tabulated data (such
as 'Flags to determine socket behaviour', 'Flags for queries', and 'Network events'). Newcomers to sockets
and telephony are provided with sound introductory material, but the focus is on programming. An appendix
contains a useful bibliography of printed and online communications programming resources.
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Alan Moore and John Penman: The Tomes of Delphi: Basic 32-Bit Communications Programming ISBN 1-55622-752-3 Published by Wordware, 555 pp. + CD, RRP $134.95 incl. GST. |
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Reprinted from the February 2003 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
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