What is Delphi?
Borland Delphi is a development tool for Windows applications. It has become popular because it is as easy to use as Visual Basic and yet as powerful as C++. The programming language is an enhanced version of Pascal that supports OOP, object oriented programming.
All the common parts of the Windows graphical user interface, like forms, buttons and lists objects, are included in Delphi as components. This means that you don't have to write any code when adding them to your application. You simply draw them onto your form like in a paint program.
For more advanced tasks where the standard components are not enough, there are many advanced components available on the internet as freeware and shareware. When you have become a real Delphi wizard, you can even write your own components.
The main thing with all these components is that code is reusable. You don't have to spend so much time on the common programming tasks of your project, but can instead concentrate on the details. This does not only make your application development faster, it also gives you a better overview of your project.
What prior knowledge must I have to be able to follow this tutorial?
It is assumed that you already have basic knowledge of programming. Best of all is if you previously have been programming in Pascal, but even if you don't, you can probably use most of the tutorial anyway. Just don't ask me any questions on the syntax of Pascal, please.