| Name: | Lewis Howell |
| Age: | 32 |
| Occupation: | Programmer |
| Company: | Antek, inc. |
| City: | Westminster, MD |
| Country: | USA |
| Wife: | Kimberly Howell |
| Children: | One on the way |
| Pets: | Had birds, but not any more because the wife is not able to take allergy medication during pregnancy. |
| Favorite Programming Book: Delphi 4 Developers Guide |
| First I would like to thank you for your efforts in helping people learn Delphi with your 'Lou's Delphi Tip of the Day'. |
| Q: | Have you ever programmed with Pascal? |
| A | No.
|
| Q: | Have you ever programmed with C/C++? |
| A: | A little.
|
| Q: | Have you ever programmed with Visual Basic? |
| A: | Tinkered some.
|
| Q: | What version of Delphi did you use first? |
| A: | Delphi 2.
|
| Q: | What is it you like about Delphi the most? |
| A: | Flexibility with 3rd party products, ability to dig deep into the
WIN32 API, ease of creating custom components.
|
| Q: | What do you dislike about Delphi the most? |
| A: | I can not say that there is anything that I really dislike.
I was disturbed when Delphi 4 was first released, the preprocessor slowed
me down tremendously. However, it was fixed in a service release.
|
| Q: | What other programming languages do you use at the moment? |
| A: | I convert some apps from C++ to Delphi or C++ Builder, and I work
with a custom language comprised of C and Pascal to write communication
drivers.
|
| Q: | Do you use Delphi at work or at home or both? |
| A: | Both, I use it at home to work on my Delphi Tip of the Day feature
as it is a project of my personal time.
|
| Q: | What do you think are the most important things a programmer should have? (Good monitor, chair, books etc.) |
| A: | A good LARGE monitor is a life saver, the larger the better.
You can never go wrong with a GOOD book, key word is "good". In all
my few years of programming, I found Delphi 4 Developers Guide to be the
best out there. Oh, and don't forget an unlimited Internet account
for surfing those answers out. You can not get enough information
from the Internet.
|
| Q: | Do you have any advice to new users of Delphi? |
| A: | Spend the time learning. If you are not dedicated enough to
stay up past midnight every night learning, then you should rethink your
profession. After you spend a year doing this, you will gain the
skill and knowledge of research and ability. You will be able to
hunt down the answers fast and efficient.
|
| Q: | What Internet sites do you run or have projects on? |
| A: | I run Lou's Delphi Tip of the Day at http://members.truepath.com/delphi
where I offer a Delphi tip each day. I also have a personal webpage
at http://members.truepath.com/LewisHowell
where I have links and resources for the Christians out there on the Internet.
I have a couple Christian freeware packages on my personal web page that
I use to assist in my daily Bible reading. I was planning to add
more, but I jumped head first into my Delphi Tip of the Day webpage.
Soon I hope to post a few Delphi freeware components as well.
|
| Q: | What programming newsgroups and mailing lists do you use the most? |
| A: | I try to stay consistent on the Borland newsgroups, and I have a
presence at http://www.thexbasefiles.com
message board each day.
|
| Q: | Do you consider Shareware worth considering for a new Delphi programmer? |
| A: | No. You need to take the time to learn the basics in Delphi
before venturing into some 3rd party products. Don't get me wrong,
3rd party products are a life saver. As far as creating shareware
programs, get grounded first by putting up some freeware that can be critiqued
and debugged for you by others.
|
| Q: | What books and magazines do you recommend for a new Delphi programmer? |
| A: | Delphi 4 Developers Guide is an excellent book. Delphi Informant
is not too bad of a magazine for beginners. Soon I will be adding
my tips and a couple articles to a new magazine that will be offered through
http://www.thexbasefiles.com
|
| Q: | What web sites do you recommend for a new Delphi programmer? |
| A: | Mine :-) Also check out Borland's question and answer page.
There are several good sites that offer some excellent freeware that you
can learn a lot from. These are the ones that I know off the top
of my head, each has a links page that will lead to to hundreds more:
http://sunsite.icm.edu.pl/delphi/ http://www.delphix.com/ http://www.delumpa.com/ http://www.torry.ru/ http://www.xapware.com/ddg/ http://www.undu.com/ http://www.efg2.com/lab/ http://inner-smile.com/ http://www.delphisource.com/ |
| Q; | Many rumors are going around about Delphi or Inprise not surviving the next few years, what do you think about these comments? |
| A: | Yeah right!!!
|
| Q: | Do you have a wish list for future versions of Delphi, if so what? |
| A: | You know, I have not really thought to hard on this. I have
wished for better components, but then I just sat down and learned how
to make them better for myself.
|
| Q: | Lou, you have Lou's Delphi Tips of the day, how did this project get started? |
| A: | I started the page to assist some friends in learning how to program
Delphi. I remembered how limited the beginner resources were as I
learned a few years ago. A lot of good sites have sprung up in the
past few months for beginners, maybe we are starting a trend here.
My friends and others had too many questions for me to answer so I started
adding them to a web page so each could see what the others were researching.
Word got out on the newsgroups about my site so I started a small email
list through my Yahoo address book. The list got out of hand so now
I am using Topica which seems to be pretty stable in comparison.
I have a lot of changes and updates and features in my mind, but they will
be slow in getting to the web page right now. My dedication is geared
towards getting a Delphi tip out each day right now.
|
| Q: | When I started my Delphi e-group and this web site, I found that while I was helping people by posting Delphi code, I was also learning more about Delphi, is this the same for you? |
| A: | OH YEAH. Questions asked of me, I thought I knew with no problem...then
the research came. I have been learning more each day then I thought
I would, that is considering I am not a beginner anymore :-) I have
learned things that have made my own applications more efficient.
Then there are a few dedicated people on my email list that give me constant
feedback on my mistakes, or oversights. I am glad for these few people
as they have helped me see approaching problems from several different
directions.
|
| Q: | How much time do these Delphi tips take for you to complete? |
| A: | I spend at least an hour each morning, sometimes longer depending
on the complexity of the tip. I try to get a small series together
which will allow me to relax a little time-wise by the end of the series.
|
| Q: | What type of feedback do you get from people about your Delphi Tips of the day? |
| A: | I get a lot of thanks, and a lot of helpful tips, and a lot of helpful
criticism. I try to add the extra tips given to me, and I try to
stay on top of the mistakes, or over sights that I may bring on when I
am in a hurry trying to learn something new.
|
| Q: | How long do you intend on offering Lou's Delphi Tip of the Day? |
| A: | I hope to offer it until my site hits drop down to minimum.
I love programming, but I also love helping others. There is a lot
of enjoyment seeing others learn what you spent time researching.
|
| Q: | Have you thought about cutting back your Delphi Tips to maybe one tip a week or 1 tip every two days? |
| A: | No. I am up early enough each day to do my tip. However,
I do get a day behind sometimes due to work or house work. I did
however cut out Sunday's tip. Since this is a project of my own on
my own time, I was falling behind in finding time to maintain all the areas
of my web page and get my tip out. For this reason I chose my day
of rest to be my day of site maintenance.
|
| Q: | Is anyone helping you put together these Delphi Tips, would you like anyone else to help you? Are you interested in donated code from other programmers? |
| A: | I am doing my tips alone right now. There have been several
offers to mirror my site but I wanted to make sure I stay dedicated before
doing that. I have had a few friends offer to help with tips, but
I do not want to give up all the fun. The tip ideas I receive from
others will mostly make it in if I do not have a thought for the day or
if I know I am going to be really busy that day, but I want to do all the
coding myself. This has turned out to be a major learning experience
for me.
In the future I may display other people's code, but right now it
would take more of my time to get it and format it to my web page the way
I like it.
|
| Q: | Do you think schools/universities will find your Delphi Tips good for students? |
| A: | I hope so, that would be really cool. I do try to explain
my tips out in a detailed manor for a beginner.
|
| Q: | You have a web site at http://members.truepath.com/LewisHowell/, what is the purpose of this web site? |
| A: | This was my first web page, and as with anyone else it is a page
dedicated to my way of life. I have beliefs and convictions in areas
that many people do and many people do not, I want to share those with
the world...specially to those who have no beliefs at all. I believe
with out a doubt that I will spend my eternity in Heaven, so I want to
share that with others who are interested. If you have been a part
of my email list for any time at all you will have realized my beliefs
as I do share them with everyone on occasion. I hope no one gets
scarred away form my email list for this reason, but I do sponsor my email
list and choose my advertisements accordingly. The few times I have
added such things to my emails it has required you to follow a link elsewhere
as to allow those who are interested to follow through.
|
| Q: | Can you please tell us something about your freeware programs? |
| A: | My freeware programs go with the above questions. One is a
simple program to assist in my daily Bible reading. I do not always
read my Bible from front to back, so I used to get confused as to what
I have read. This little program will assist by writing a simple
ini file for each book and chapter of the Bible that I have read.
My other program was designed to assist children in learning the books
of the Bible and the order they are written in.
|
| Q: | What is the purpose of Lou's Polls? |
| A: | I started my poll to assist in the direction of my webpage.
Being new to such an adventure I want to make sure that I send it in the
proper direction.
|
| Q: | Are you intending on getting all the results from all your polls and publishing them on your web site? |
| A: | Yes. However I am using a freeware service that seems to have
things a bit mixed up right now. My current poll is not the current
one, and the results do not look correct. But what can you expect
for free :-)
I am waiting for them to get back on the ball, or I will research out a new "free" service. |
| Q: | Do you accept questions from programmers about a problem they might be having? |
| A: | Oh yeah. My only problem is getting the answers back as quickly
as they may need them. I try to use the questions to direct my tips.
|
| Q: | What motivates you to work so hard to help other people? |
| A: | Enjoyment and learning.
|
| Q: | How can people contact you? |
| A: | [email protected] or
[email protected]
|
| This was very exciting for me...an interview with the world of Delphi programmers. I hope my answers have helped the beginner programmer most of all. Below is a little information about how I got started and the directions I took to learn what I have learned about Delphi. |
| I have a lifetime background in computers and electronics. Starting
as a little boy, I took everything apart to see how it worked...most of
it still worked when my dad put it back together. In the military
I was a telecommunications electronics guru. After leaving the military
I
tried to get through some college but only got as far as a 2-year degree. My hope, as with many, was to get back in and finish up at least a 4-year degree. The bills started stacking too high to get back into college so I started into becoming a CNE. I made it to the last exam and did not take it because I was challenged to become a Delphi programmer. It was a tough decision but my curiosity lead me away from CNE. I now work for the company that taught me to program Delphi from the ground up, I hope to spend many more years here. |
| I took the challenge to become a Delphi programmer when the boss
asked for a project, in a sarcastic joking manner. Originally, I
was a field technician but my ambitions were to succeed at what ever I
did.
Programming was the furthest from my mind, but it did interested me enough to investigate if I could accomplish such a task. The original challenge was not out of interest to see what I knew but out of a semi-joke because something needed to be finished and the lead programmer where I work found another job. I took the challenge to heart and spent a few weeks digging deep into books and the Internet, while getting about 2-4 hours of sleep each night. When I finished I had the crudest example of program that you have ever seen. As I look back at the code, I cringe to think that it even worked in the first place, not to mention that it is still being used today (after some minor/major alterations). |
| What I am trying to say is that the challenge was there for me as it
is with all beginners. How you take the challenge is up to you, and
where it will take you in the future of your career. If you do not
have the heart and passion to put every waking minute into learning, then
maybe
you have not found your life long career. Like anything you successfully accomplish in life, you have to be dedicated and willing to give up everything to learn. When the initial learning process passes, you will have the ability and knowledge to continue your learning and dig out the answers quicker and more efficient then ever. My work day was at least 18 hours when I was first learning Delphi, now it stays around 9 hours with no problem and I still accomplish the same amount of code. It took me 3-4 years to get to where I am, but boy was it worth every sleepless night. I have learned to learn in a fashion as never before, I still absorb all the code and information my brain can take in and love every minute of it. |
| As a beginner I would recommend that you think of a project you want
to create and use all the books and Internet resources to get you there.
Books alone are not good enough, neither is the Internet. It is the combination of your trial-n-error with all the resources at hand that will teach you more about programming than a single book will ever do. One easy project to start with might be an address book. You can create databases and tweak in features that are specific to your needs. |
| As you advance in your knowledge, you can add major reinforcements
to it by helping others. Remember, we all were beginners at one time.
The place to start helping others would probably be the newsgroups.
As you add your input there, others will contradict and/or add their more
efficient input. This is a continual learning and reinforcement effort
that will gain you the most in the long run.
In closing, just remember these things.
|
| My thanks for my programming knowledge and abilities goes one way...to
God be the glory. |
Tokoroa
North Island
New Zealand