Delphi high performance : master the art of concurrency, parallel programming, and memory management to build fast Delphi apps / Primoz Gabrijelcic.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gabrijelčič, Primož, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Delphi (Computer file).

Computer software--Development.

Computer software.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (452 pages)

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

Birmingham, England : Packt Publishing Ltd., [2023]

Summary:

Performance matters! Users hate to use programs that are not responsive to interactions or run too slow to be useful. While becoming a programmer is simple enough, you require dedication and hard work to achieve an advanced level of programming proficiency where you know how to write fast code. This book begins by helping you explore algorithms and algorithmic complexity and continues by describing tools that can help you find slow parts of your code. Subsequent chapters will provide you with practical ideas about optimizing code by doing less work or doing it in a smarter way. The book also teaches you how to use optimized data structures from the Spring4D library, along with exploring data structures that are not part of the standard Delphi runtime library. The second part of the book talks about parallel programming. You'll learn about the problems that only occur in multithreaded code and explore various approaches to fixing them effectively. The concluding chapters provide instructions on writing parallel code in different ways - by using basic threading support or focusing on advanced concepts such as tasks and parallel patterns. By the end of this book, you'll have learned to look at your programs from a totally different perspective and will be equipped to effortlessly make your code faster than it is now.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright and Credits

Contributors

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1: About Performance

Technical requirements

What is performance?

Different types of speed

Algorithm complexity

Big O and Delphi data structures

Data structures in practice

Mr. Smith's first program

Looking at code through Big O eyes

Summary

Chapter 2: Profiling the Code

Don't guess, measure!

Profiling with TStopwatch

Profilers

Chapter .3: Fixing the Algorithm

Writing responsive user interfaces

Updating a progress bar

Bulk updates

Virtual display

Caching

Memoization

Dynamic cache

Speeding up SlowCode

Chapter 4: Don't Reinvent, Reuse

Spring for Delphi

Enumerations, collections, and lists

IEnumerable&lt

T&gt

ICollection&lt

IList&lt

Other interfaces

TEnumerable

Stacks and queues

Trees

Red-black trees

Sets and dictionaries

ISet&lt

IMultiSet&lt

IDictionary&lt

TKey, TValue&gt

IBiDiDictionary&lt

Chapter 5: Fine-Tuning the Code

Delphi compiler settings

Code inlining control

Optimization

Record field alignment

Assertions

Overflow checking

Range checking

Extracting common expressions

The helpful CPU window

Behind the scenes

A plethora of types

Simple types

Strings

Arrays

Records

Classes

Interfaces

Optimizing method calls

Parameter passing

Method inlining

The magic of pointers

Going the assembler way

Returning to SlowCode

Chapter 6: Memory Management

Optimizing strings and array allocations.

Memory management functions

Dynamic record allocation

FastMM4 internals

Memory allocation in a parallel world

Replacing the default memory manager

Logging memory manager

FastMM4 with release stack

FastMM5

TBBMalloc

Comparing memory managers

There is no silver bullet

Fine-tuning SlowCode

Chapter 7: Getting Started with the Parallel World

Processes and threads

Multithreading

Multitasking

When to parallelize code

The most common problems

Never access the UI from a background thread

Simultaneous reading and writing

Sharing a variable

Hidden behavior

Synchronization

Critical sections

Other locking mechanisms

A short note on coding style

Shared data with built-in locking

Interlocked operations

Object life cycle

Communication

Windows messages

Synchronize and Queue

Polling

Performance

Third-party libraries

Chapter 8: Working with Parallel Tools

TThread

Automatic life cycle management

Advanced TThread

Setting up a communication channel

Sending messages from a thread

Using TCommThread

Implementing a timer

Synchronizing with multiple workers

WaitForMultipleObjects

Condition variables

Comparing both approaches

Chapter 9: Exploring Parallel Practices

Tasks and patterns

Variable capturing

Tasks

Exceptions in tasks

Parallelizing a loop

Thread pooling

Async/Await

Join

Join/Await

Future

Parallel for

Pipelines

Web spider

The filter stage

The downloader stage

The parser stage

Chapter 10: More Parallel Patterns

Using OmniThreadLibrary

Blocking collections

Using blocking collections with TThread-based threads

Async/Await.

Join

Parallel Task

Background Worker

Initial query

Pipeline

Creating the pipeline

Stages

Displaying the result and shutting down

Map

Timed Task

Chapter 11: Using External Libraries

Linking with object files

Object file formats

Object file linking in practice

Using C++ libraries

Writing exported functions

Using a proxy DLL in Delphi

Chapter 12: Best Practices

About performance

Profiling the code

Fixing the algorithm

Don't reinvent, reuse

Fine-tuning the code

Memory management

Getting started with the parallel world

Working with parallel tools

Exploring parallel practices

More parallel patterns

Using external libraries

Final words

Index

Other Books You May Enjoy.

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781805128335

1805128337

OCLC:

1390065203