Summary
In this chapter, you learned about Object Pascal types. This information is essential if you want to use Object Pascal successfully.
The chapter began with a look at the simple types, such as integers, strings, and the floating-point types. Stepping into wilder terrain, you had a look at typecasting, arrays, and records. The last few pages of the text took you into the untamed jungle for a look at pointers and memory allocation for objects.
Hopefully this chapter has given you some sense of the power and subtlety of Object Pascal. The language is a subtle tool with many modern features. It gives you the speed and flexibility of C or C++, many of the modern programming features of Java, and the ease of use that you might expect from Perl or Python.
In the next chapter, you will learn more about working with objects and interfaces in an Object Pascal program. From there you will go on to learn more about the IDE and the editor. Finally, at the end of Part I, "Understanding Delphi and Linux," you will see how to use Object Pascal to access the core features of the X Window library.