Reading is an essential skill for Windows application development. Development is a nebulous and constantly expanding subject and I’ve noticed that the most successful coders, project managers and designers are often readers with a voracious appetite for consuming books on everything they possibly can to keep feeding a hunger for knowledge. Unlike a waistline, expanding your mind is rarely seen as a negative attribute and over-indulging produces nothing but good results!

Learning a new programming language can be a hard task, but if you get hold of a good book, spend time, and have the commitment, then learning becomes easier and delightful. Practice and self-tuition is important but books and videos help use the benefits of other’s experiences to enrich our own without the pain of getting it wrong and spending years acquiring the knowledge.

Technology is in constant growth and could be considered a fast-paced competitive market. Every day new frameworks and tools are created, and it is easy to get lost in the sea of new information. Because of this speed, many rely on quick tutorials which lead from point A to point B without figuring out the way yourself. That is why it is essential to read coding books that explain every single detail that helps to build a true foundation.

Windows operating system has been dominating the desktop software world and with the new version of Windows 11 with an elegant user interface, we are seeing new Windows 10 and 11 supported applications in the Microsoft Store.

If you would like to find out which books and resources would help you to start your Windows desktop app development career, keep on reading! You will find the best 6 books about IDE tools for Windows 10 and even you can you these tools to create native and cross-platform applications.

1. Object Pascal Handbook for Delphi.4 (The New Edition)

The Object Pascal Handbook for Delphi 10.4 is the complete guide to the programming language of Delphi. Why Delphi? Because with Delphi you can create cross-platform native applications easily and the programming language syntax is also suitable for everyone, it is like writing a poem in English. If you would like to know more about why you need to choose Delphi, check out these articles now! If you would like to know more about why you need to choose Delphi, check out these articles now!

• Why We Love Windows Development & Why You Should Too
• You Need to Know The Compelling Reasons for Native Apps

This book is written by Marco Cantu, who is well known Delphi guru and author of dozens of Delphi books, and he is one of the Product Managers for RAD Studio at Embarcadero Technologies where Delphi is evolving.

With this book, you can get all the foundations of the language and give you a full idea about the Delphi programming language which you will utilize to create native Windows applications.

Link: https://www.marcocantu.com/objectpascalhandbook/

2. Coding in Delphi

Coding in Delphi is a programming book by Nick Hodges that covers a variety of powerful Delphi programming features and techniques including:

• Generics
• Interfaces
• Exception handling
• Anonymous methods
• Collections
• RTTI
• Enumerations
• Attributes
• Dependency Injection
• Unit Testing

By learning these features of the programming language, you can write efficient code and make things faster and more reliable. Moreover, these technologies help you grow as an engineer.

Link: https://leanpub.com/codingindelphi

3. Expert Delphi: Robust and fast cross-platform application development

This book is written by Paweł Głowacki and provides wide range of things that you can learn. It starts from the basics of the Delphi IDE and its component library and gives you the most needed answers to your questions.

• Server-side applications
• Create web services
• Built robust GUIs for your projects
• Important concepts of FireMonkey cross-platform framework
• Internet of Things
• Access platform specific features and APIs
• Web service integration to your Delphi apps

By learning all these, you will be able to built powerful, cross-platform, native apps for Windows, iOS, and Android with a single code base.

Link: https://www.packtpub.com/free-ebook/expert-delphi/9781786460165

4. Delphi High Performance

After learning about how to develop various types of applications with Delphi, you need to start thinking about making your applications faster and safer with low level techniques. For instance, the Delphi High Performance book by Primoz Gabrijelcic provides wide range of contents in your hands.

The book begins by explaining how to find performance bottlenecks and apply the correct algorithm to fix them. You’ll explore various tools to build highly concurrent applications. Moreover, you will go through memory management with Delphi and write better performing programs.

• Fine tuning the code
• Memory management
• Getting started with parallel world
• Parallel tools
• Using external libraries
• Best practices
• Master the RTL (Run-Time Library) for code optimization
• and more

By the end of the book, you know how to build high performance applications with Delphi for Windows, macOS, Android, iOS and Linux.

Link: https://www.packtpub.com/product/delphi-high-performance/9781788625456

5. Delphi in Depth: FireDAC

Delphi IDE provides rapid application development for various platforms with native cross-platform development experience: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. Moreover you can create web applications without a problem. Delphi is loved because of its powerful and stable visual development experience and the built-in components that comes with it. Furthermore, Delphi VCL (Visual Component Library) is the most reliable and stable framework for building Windows native applications.

Besides these, Delphi has the FireDAC (Data Access Component) that provides smooth experience working with dozens of different databases. You just need to drag and drop 2-4 components to the form and you just need to complete simple configuration to connect any database or the database in somewhere in the server.

But knowing how to professional use FireDAC gives high efficiency and performance in your applications. This book: Delphi in Depth: FireDAC by Cary Jensen provides wide range of topics to learn about building high performance database applications with Delphi.

• Optimize connection configuration
• Explore the world of indexes, searches, and filters
• Create flexible queries using macros and FireDAC scalar functions
• Achieve blazing performance with Array DML
• Master of the art cached updates
• and more

By the end of this book, you have all the information that helps you structure and create powerful enterprise-grade database powered application with Delphi.

Link: https://www.jensendatasystems.com/firedacbook/

6. Fearless Cross-Platform Development with Delphi

Delphi is a strongly typed, event-driven programming language with a rich ecosystem of frameworks and support tools. It comes with an extensive set of web and database libraries for rapid application development on desktop, mobile, and internet-enabled devices. With this book by David Cornelius, you can learn about:

• Discover the latest enhancements in the Delphi IDE
• Overcome the barriers that hold you back from embrasing cross-platform development
• Become fluent with FireMonkey controls, styles, LiveBindings, and 3D objects
• Build Delphi packages to extend RAD Server or modularize your applications
• Learn FireDAC
• Develop modules for IIS and Apache web servers
• Enable remote apps with backend servers on Windows and Linux through REST APIs
• Leverage IoT technologies such as Bluetooth and Beacons and learn how to put your app on a Raspberry Pi
• Cameras, the GPS, and more
• Modern features of the Delphi IDE and language itself
• and more

This book is one of the latest books about Delphi development and gives comprehensive list of contents with up to date features.

Read an in-depth review here: https://blogs.embarcadero.com/why-you-should-be-fearless-when-developing-with-delphi/

Bonus Books

These are compiled and recommend books and gives you step by step guide you to become an expert Delphi engineer. But there are lots of advanced and really great books by other Delphi developers.

Delphi GUI Programming with FireMonkey is one of the extensive books about building exciting cross-platform apps with Embarcadero Delphi. It is written by Andrea Magni and this book reveals most of the best possibilities of the Delphi FireMonkey framework.

• Introducing the FireMonkey framework
• Exploring similarities and differences with VCL
• Mastering Components
• Using FireDAC in FMX Apps
• Understand FMX Style Concept
• Divide and Conquer with TFrameStand
• Building Responsive UIs
• Orchestrating transitions and animations
• Exploring Cross-platform services and FireMonkey 3D capabilities

Link: https://www.packtpub.com/product/delphi-gui-programming-with-firemonkey/9781788624176

Delphi Programming Projects by William Duarte shows how to build various types of applications with Delphi. By building these projects, you get a big picture of real Delphi development and with those experiences you can build and structure more powerful and exciting applications.

• Building an Instagram Clone
• Building a Facebook REST API
• Cross-Platform Services for Windows, iOS, and Android
• Design Patterns to build Multi-Database System
• Creating GUI apps with FireMonkey
• Implementing Tethering to Create Remote Control
• Building Microservices using the RAD Server

Link: https://www.packtpub.com/product/Delphi-Programming-Projects/9781789130553

Code Faster in Delphi by Alister Christie is a really amazing book that teaches you not to touch the mouse. It is likely that you utilize combinations of mouse and keyboard while developing. But what if you know the whole Delphi IDE shortcuts and hot keys to control everything? Yes, this gives high productivity for you and of course you enjoy the process. Moreover this book reveals the tricks and tips for building better and efficient applications with Delphi.

• Interfaces
• Generics
• Anonymous Methods
• Parallel Programming Library
• Enhanced RTTI
• FireDAC
• and more

Link: https://learndelphi.tv/products/264-code-faster-in-delphi

Moreover, I would recommend you to explore the books listed at this link too.

Be sure to check out the newest Delphi version right here!