These are a small number of comments that have been said about me, taken either from emails or conference session evaluation forms.
If you find useful information on this web site please consider making a donation. It will be appreciated however big or small it might be and will encourage Brian to continue researching, writing and speaking about interesting topics in the future. About this Web site:Fantastic site, cool information.
I just wanted to say thank you to you for posting the information on using OLE automation servers from Borland C++ Builder.
I needed a very simple way to write an .xls file using Excel from a C++ program, and the only reference for the proper syntax that I found was the information on your site.
I would like to congratulate you on your excellent Delphi web site. I am pretty new to Delphi and if it weren't for your site, I would have given up a long time ago.What amazed me is your knowledge in COM/Automation programming. I purchased the Delphi Developers Guide and what impressed me was how much clearer your articles are compared to the Developers Guide.
So many trainers in the software training arena seem to have something to prove, showing off to their trainees what they can do as if their position as trainer wasn't enough for others to appreciate them (or even to appreciate themselves).However, that can't be said for you. Your down to-earth style encouraging others to aspire rather than be impressed and your clear explanation of everything you taught made the week very enjoyable. If anyone I know ever wants a trainer I will certainly recommend you.
I must thank you for your talks at each of the conferences I have attended and your articles in Delphi Mag. Some of the clearest coverage of the most pertinent issues.
I wanted to write and congratulate you on a brilliant lecture on exception handling. I am a complete novice to Delphi yet I found I could follow every word you said. Additionally you kept me awake during the 'graveyard' slot.I have seldom experienced a lecture that was so clear, well paced and interesting. You dealt with people's questions with patience and attention yet without being put off your planned trail. Thank you.
Over the years (far too many of them) I have experienced university lectures in Philosophy, Theology, Psychology, vocational lectures at various levels including PGCE, plus the usual college stuff. Your grasp of your own material is masterful: your relationship with your audience is extremely sensitive, producing rapport and humour: the topics have been extremely well structured (basic concepts first, then more complex extensions later): pace spot on. Overall quite exceptional.
Brian Long presented an entertaining session on .NET debugging which actually inspired me to use the cdb debugger in earnest yesterday, so that was another session of great practical use.
Several years ago, at the 2001 & 2002 Borland Conferences, I had the opportunity to participate in several lectures you had offered. I walked away from each conference impressed by your candid, down-to-earth speaking style and ability to enthral an audience. Your clear, enthusiastic tone and approach to education inspired not only myself, but every colleague with which I attended.
I enjoyed your sessions at DCon (as ever!), especially your late Monday night one. Your enthusiasm about what you do is very inspiring.
I must say that I had a wonderful time in your TAction section at BorCon. You have my vote for you hosting the "Fun with Delphi / Dark Side" next year.
The highlight of the sessions for me was seeing Brian Long go through .NET debugging capabilities. He obviously had a command of the topic, managed to demo the command line debuggers for an hour without a single typo and had a great dry sense of humour. He's done a lot of talks with the Developers Group here in the UK, which came out of the Borland Developers Group. I love the fact that the .NET community has benefited from so many people with Delphi experience.
This is just some fan mail to express my appreciation for the sessions you hosted at Borcon 7 in Noordwijkerhout, the Netherlands. You were great, and I learned a lot in the process too. Now I have heard you in the flesh I can read your articles with added enjoyment.
Brian Long's talk on Debugging was probably the talk that made my brain hurt the most, partly because it was given in the dreaded 'post lunch and coffee break' slot, but also because watching and listening to talkthroughs of DOS-command window formatted hex dumps is always going to require serious concentration. That being said Brian, who focussed mainly on the usage of WinDebug, kept me awake throughout the whole talk and his dry humour made this a really fun session. He clearly knew his stuff, and was keen to share in a very clear and concise fashion. This talk was another highlight of the day for me.
Brian Long gave an excellent session on debugging last Developer! day and didn't disappoint this second time with an excellent session on Reverse Engineering to Know .NET Better. The subject hadn't really appealed but turned out to be much more enjoyable than I'd expected. Brian's knowledge and depth of research is intimidating but we got to benefit as he gave us the details of the different tools and resources available for understanding how .NET framework classes work and have been put together. As with his last talk this was fast-paced and informative and delivered with the odd bit of dry wit that reminded me I must check out one of his "proper" (more formal) Debugging or peformance training classes when I have some free time next year.
You provide a most valuable service to us all and for that I thank you, mind you, where you get the time to sort out our problems so rapidly, beats me!
I always read the Delphi Clinic first, immediately I receive my Delphi Mag.
Over the years the Clinic has been a major source of solving those little nagging problems that you fix with a quick work around to get the job done; it is really nice to find a proper answer to the problem, right there in the Delphi Clinic.
I highly appreciate your interventions in the Delphi Clinic: clear, concise, efficient, demonstrative.
I read your articles monthly and have obtained great benefits from them ...
Finally, I would like to thank you for your attention and help. Congratulations for your superb work in The Delphi Magazine. I'm sure your articles are a great help for all Delphi developers.
Your column in the Delphi Magazine is priceless.
I feel like an idiot for not catching this myself, but I just looked in issue 51 and there it was. You saved our project! Thanks! A lot of people would not have even mentioned this for fear of embarassment. I'm glad you're such a "straight-shooter." Keep up the excellent work!
Thanks for the help you've provided everyone with in the Delphi Clinic. It is invaluable.
I must thank you for your talks at each of the conferences I have attended and your articles in Delphi Mag. Some of the clearest coverage of the most pertinent issues.
I have read the More Automation articles and found them to be very easy to take in, and have helped me a lot especially in creating COM collection objects. They are better than any of the books I have read.
Your paper was most illuminating and has improved my understanding of the topic considerably.
Without wishing to be syncophantic, I find your prose articulate and readable - some of your co-contributors would do well to take notice.
I just found your Kylix tutorial series that was published in Linux Format. This is clearly the best tutorial I've seen on Kylix and it's also largely applicable to Delphi. I just had to say "thank-you"!
I've seen your articles on other subjects and you're clearly an expert. I wrote an intro set of tutorials for Delphi about a year ago, and I learned how hard it can be. It's certainly harder than it looks. The hardest part is to find the right level. You want to help newbies, but you also want to make it interesting to seasoned programmers. You have found the right balance and I commend you!
I'd sure like to see more from you. I can't wait!
Thanks for the GRRRREAT Tutorial on your web site! I have been working on SAPI51 objects for a long time and only now I have this deep understanding of the API, thanks to your effort.
I read your article in the Delphi Magazine (Issue 63) and I say: GREAT. Thanks a lot for all this information about a tricky subject.
Thank you very much for your article on performing professional Dragging by showing an image of the item that is being dragged. This really was the first quality article that I have seen on this subject. It is very appreciated.
Just a word of gratitude: I got my new COM server DLL accessible thro’ EARI’s ArcMap VBA! I’m ecstatic!!!
Without your tutorial, this might never have happened.
Thanks for your article named More Automation In Delphi. I can't imagine how to solve the problem of For Each in VB without this one.
Your essay on www.thedelphimagazine.com is very helpful. I read a lot of articles about threading model issue, this is first time that I know exactly what an apartment is.
Thank you so much for your great articles and columns. I read every one.
I thought your article was terrific on Calling 16-Bit Code From 32-Bit In Windows.
Fantastic stuff on memory debugging in Delphi.
I wanted you to know that all my years as a Delphi developer I really really enjoyed your articles in the Delphi Mag. I think I enjoyed them and learned more from you than any other Delphi author.
More Automation In Delphi is excellently written. Not that I'm a literary critic but never-the-less one doesn't come across such clarity and unambiguity often.
I am a reader of The Delphi Magazine since its first issue. Previously, I was a reader of The Pascal Magazine. I am also programming with Turbo Pascal since version 3.I highly appreciate your interventions in the Delphi Clinic: clear, concise, efficient, demonstrative.
Hi, have been studying your article http://www.blong.com/Conferences/BorConUK98/DelphiRTTI/CB140.htm and I've found it wonderful.
Just wanted to say thanks for such a great article Reverse Engineering To Learn .NET Better - in 10 minutes you answered every question I had! Much appreciated. Cheers.
Just a note to congratulate you on the superb tutorial on Kylix which you did a while ago. I have joined the Pascal ranks having been with VB for many years and find your writing to be very easy to follow due to the logical flow. I have read several other tutorials but this one stands out from the crowd. Thanks for the time you have put into it, I hope many others have found it useful too.
I saw your review of Delphi 6 and after I read it, I bought Delphi 6 Enterprise. D6 Enterprise is just wonderful!!! Your review helped me a lot! Thank you.
I appreciate your timely response as well as your advice... Just so that you're aware, the reason I requested you, in particular, for training/consulting is that I'm familiar with your contributions to The Delphi Magazine. These contributions are, in my opinion, among (if not) the best in the entire community of Delphi professionals.
I am just writing to let you know that I have been reading your online tutorials to help me get my head around Kylix and also help me freshen up on my programming skills. I have found these to be extremely useful and very informative.
I don't know if you get much feedback about the Kylix tutorials, but personally I think they are great. They must have taken a lot of work - thanks for taking the time to put them on the web so people like me can learn!!!
Thank you for that simply brilliant paper.
Some might say it helps hackers as well as honest engineers. But as a software writer I say my eyes need to be open to what these darned people can do, so I can impede them. Big rethink underway...
Thanks again. People like you are the saints of this business.
Today I read your article "Multi-Threading And COM" on The Delphi Magazine website. It was really excellent. I have never read so clearly about Apartments and STA and MTA in any other msdn articles so far.
Writing is a gift. Writing becomes powerful when it breaks the complexity of things into simple ones. Your writing has that magic.
I have just read your article in The Delphi Magazine , and it's a cracker! Simply reading through all the gotchas will have saved me days or weeks of frustration...
Your Kylix Tutorial series is simply the best I have encountered.
I always appreciate your articles in The Delphi Magazine. More often than not they contain the sort of hints I've been looking for.
I found your article Implementing Professional Drag & Drop incredibly useful, and want to thank you for its clarity, and its steady, logical unfolding of the various elements of drag and drop functionality.
Thanks for your very clear and good article. It was a great help to me.
Brian Long did a great job on this page... I developed my first Apache DSO using IntraWeb and Delphi 7, and had it up and running in about two minutes using Brian's info. :-)
It was an excellent article, and it really helped me get started with Apache.
I can thoroughly recommend this book, I promise that you won't regret buying it. I'll bet that as you browse through its 446 pages, before too long the room will be punctuated with the sound of 'Oh, I SEE now...!'
Compared with what's currently on the market Wrox can hold their head up high. This book covers many topics which are often skirted or not even considered. It is unashamedly aimed at the professional developer, stuffed full of information and for my money worth every penny.
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