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Favorite Podcast Format

New Poll for your voting pleasure.  Please let me know your favorite podcast format of the ones I have provided so far.  I plan on mixing it up with a couple different formats, but it would be nice to know the preferred format.

Favorite Format

  • Screencast (42%, 26 Votes)
  • Technical Interview (39%, 24 Votes)
  • News Roundtable (13%, 8 Votes)
  • News Interview (5%, 3 Votes)
  • News Monolog (2%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 62

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BTW, there is another screen cast coming . . . .

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Update on Explore Tool

MikeG reported that he wasn’t able to get the Explore Tool in Delphi to work in XP.  I tried it on XP today and it worked fine.  It might be that something was missed.  Here is a nice reference of the important bits from that screen cast:

Go to Tools / Configure Tools / Add

Adding an Explore Tool

The Title can be anything you want.  The program is Explorer (the .exe is optional) and the parameters must be /select, $edname (be sure you remember the comma!)

That should do it for you to open an explorer window with the currently edited file selected.

Update: More explorer parameters.

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Hidden Features of Delphi

There is a thread on Stack Overflow listing the hidden features of Delphi. Worth checking out. If you don’t see the features you know of then be sure to add them.

Additionally I added a side bar on the left that lists the 10 most recent Stack Overflow questions related to Delphi.

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Caused Stack Overflow

There is a new programming community site on the internet today.  It has been in beta for a while, but today it is open to the public.  The site is Stack Overflow and it is the brain child of Jeff Attwood and Joel Spolsky.  If you are software developer who reads blogs then you have most likely heard of them and read their work.  

Think of Stack Overflow as a combination of a Wiki with a Forum.  There is a little bit of Digg / Reddit thrown in and a touch of a blog.  Here is Jeff’s Venn diagram to explain it:

So that little asterisk in the middle.  Everything is tagged, so you can filter for only the Delphi questions.  It is pretty active and sometimes it is good to see how the other side lives.  There is a pretty good community forming already.  

I am trying to keep an eye on the Delphi questions, there are currently 37 of them, but I occasionally check out other topics too.  It doesn’t replace CodeGear’s forums (which now have an accept answer feature) but I like the fact it is much more focused to being on the topic of a question and an answer and less on a discussion.

So far I have seen some past guests on our podcast there including both Nick Hodges and Barry Kelly.  When will I see you out there?  Put a link in the comments.  I’ll be sure to vote up most Delphi questions and good answers too.

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Delphi 2009 ISO Available (Direct Link)

Don’t want to use the ESD to install?  Nick posted that the ISO was available, but the link wasn’t immediately obvious as it pointed to the ESD.  Just swap out .esd_trial.zip to .iso on the FTP or HTTP url and the ISO will download.

For some reason the FTP links fail on Chrome.  Maybe Chrome doesn’t do FTP.  The HTTP links do not work from here (which is why I unlinked them) because it checks your referrer.  Just copy and paste it and it will work.

The ISO is 1,944.67 MB, so you will be downloading for a while.  The advantage of the ESD is it only downloads the languages and the prerequisites you need.  Much smaller download overall.

When you connect to the FTP server you get the following:

WARNING: This is a restricted access system. If you do not have explicit
permission to access this system, please disconnect immediately!

But I am assuming that Nick’s comment that it is available for anyone is explicit permission. I may be wrong.

Check out A first impression review of the Delphi 2009 trial.  Not all roses, but positive overall.

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RTM: Delphi 2009

It is official, Delphi 2009 has been released to manufacturing, and some lucky individuals are actually receiving downloads.  I had a suspicion of this when I posted my podcast, but wanted to be sure.  Nick Hodges posted a Twitter that he was “Sitting in on our internal company launch call,” which made me suspect it was the Delphi launch, but then Dr. Bob posted that he was sending out ESD licenses to BeNeLux customers, and now Anders has posted that it in fact was RTM at 4 PM on Sunday.

Happy day!  Although I was expecting a press release or something really official looking like they did when they made it available for sale.

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Updated Delphi Logos

I actually wanted a “Built for Delphi” logo so I went to the official Delphi logos page.  I noticed they all still said “From Borland,” and that just won’t work anymore.  I realize the folks at CodeGear are busy getting Delphi 2009 finished up, so I figured I could update at least the Delphi logos. I also created a Built For Delphi button.  

I present the following updated logos for your downloading pleasure:

New:

Or you can download a wide variety of sizes in a single zip file.  If the size you need isn’t in there, then you can resize it as needed.  (Note: I ran all of the images through PNG crush and maintained the rounded corner transparency.)

Keep in mind that these are not official logos.  Since they were provided with no significant restrictions I assume that includes derrivitive works and redistribution (similar to a Creative Commons).  Use them as you would the originals.  

Enjoy, and let me know if you want any other buttons.

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The Worst Thing About Delphi

One year I was at BorCon and they were playing some old Turbo Pascal commercials and one I remember was this guy doing various odd tasts around his office (watering plants, etc.) and then we find out that he is waiting for his code to compile.  At the end of the commercial he gets a new copy of Turbo Pascal and his code compiles right away.  Now he isn’t able to get to all that busy work.  Bummer.

XKCD's "Compiling" comicAT&T had a similar commercial where they appoligized that their long distance calls went through so quick as a teen-age guy lost his nerve and was about to hang up when his old girl friend picked-up.

Anyway, I love XKCD, this comic being one of my favorites.  Although since I have been using Delphi for so long I guess I am spoiled.  Even huge projects still compile fairly quickly.  Somewhere in the back of my mind I just assumed everyone’s compiler was that quick.  This comic was a reminder that not everyone is as lucky as we are.  

I guess we need to come up with a new excuse for slacking off at work.  Oh, I know, “it’s all done!”

Speaking of all done, I wonder when Delphi 2009 will be all done and start shipping. . . .

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TIOBE: Delphi in top 10 again after strong comeback

The TIOBE prorgamming langauge index is reporting that Delphi programming is in the top 10 again in September after a strong comeback.  As always it is still a grade A rated language.  It is great to see it back in the top 10.  I guess that Embarcadero marketing is paying off.

What the TIOBE index does is look across all the search engines to find hits that reference different programming languages.  For ever page it finds that says “Delphi programming” it considers that page to be related to Delphi.  It then weights it all and provides a ranking.

Both the Delphi programming langauge and the Pascal programming language (which might include Object Pascal since they don’t filter that) jumped 4 places since September of 2007.  I would think they should combine Delphi and Object Pascal.  Not sure how much of a difference that would make.  Interestingly the detail page on Delphi says the lowest it has ever been (since 2001) was 12th place, but the main page says it was 14th last year.  One of the two is wrong.  I don’t recall Delphi being the 14th, so maybe I am reading it wrong now.

Hat tip to Esteban Pacheco for the lead.  I usually check TIOBE, but I guess I forgot to.

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Ideal Podcast Duration

Some of you may have noticed a poll on the left side bar on our home page.  These polls provide a great way for me to aggregate your feedback on how to improve the podcast.  When I first started this podcast my target duration was 15 miuntes to a half hour.  Then I started interviewing all these interesting people and my duration shot up to about 45 miuntes.  I actually edit the hour long interview down quite a bit, but they are still longer then I planned.  Maybe that is a good thing.  Let me know what you think.  How long would the ideal podcast be for you?

Preferred Delphi podcast duration?

  • Don't care, just keep them coming! (45%, 53 Votes)
  • 15 - 30 minutes (28%, 33 Votes)
  • 30 - 45 minutes (16%, 19 Votes)
  • < 15 minutes (8%, 9 Votes)
  • 1 hour (3%, 3 Votes)

Total Voters: 117

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