Buy it!

Well done, Jon Shemitz. Two things jump out from this book: first, lots of text and virtually no screen shots. That means a LOT of very erudite content. Second, brilliant organisation. It's not a feature of many Delphi/Kylix books, even the worthy ones, and it is manna when it droppeth.

The book touts itself as "a comprehensive guide for developers wishing to make quick inroads into developing native applications for the Linux platform". Comprehensive it is, but this is no quickie how-to. This author goes the extra yards and provides good, lucid explanations for why a certain thing is as it is. It reflects excellent research, meticulous QA and the trait of the true teacher, to share what he knows. As a result, I'm finding topics in this this book that have eluded me for years of Delphi work - being absent from the popular titles, the Borland help and the Borland knowledgebase.

When (not if!) you buy this book, pay attention to the Notes panels and the footnotes. Shemitz (or his editor) has been very tight about delivering the story. His post-its and those vital snippets of experiential background are not buried in the main story but are distilled out expertly and consistently into these two reader aid devices. The plot stays right on target and those tricky bits are just where you want them, without having to dive off to a cross-reference.

Because I live in a remote area, I have to buy books "sight unseen". Hence, my tech library is a "lucky dip" of useful titles and doorstoppers. With this one, I really lucked in. I think it was a gutbuster to write and consider it worth every drop of blood, sweat and tears.