Delphi 2009 Anonymous Methods
In this article, I'll examine Delphi 2009 Anonymous Methods. An anonymous method is a method without a name; hence it's anonymous. In fact, you can see it as a chunk of code that has been copied and can be pasted anywhere else. In general, an anonymous method is great for situations where a normal for-in-loop doesn't work. But in this section, I'll do my best to give some examples of places where anonymous methods can be useful.
As first example, consider the following definition of a procedure reference, which can be called, and assigned directly, without specifying a name. In fact, the assignment is just a block of code, nothing more:

  type
    TProc = reference to procedure(x: Integer);

  procedure call(const proc: TProc);
  begin
    proc(42);
  end;

  var
    proc: TProc;
  begin
    proc := procedure(a: Integer)
    begin
      Button1.Caption := IntToStr(a)
    end;
    call(proc)
  end;

Anonymous Exit
Using anonymous methods in combination with Exit, you can write code that has no more need for else statements (or local routines for that matter). I've marked the anonymous method again, to make it a bit clearer where the actual code surrounding the anonymous method is, and what the anonymous method itself consists of:

  function Power(const Value: Extended; Exponent: Integer): Extended; overload;
  type
    TMultiply = reference to function(const v: Extended; e: Integer): Extended;
  var
    Times: TMultiply;
  begin
    if Value = 0 then Exit(0);
    if Exponent = 0 then Exit(1);
    Times := function(v: Extended; e: Integer): Extended
    begin
      Result := v;
      while e > 0 do Result := Result * v
    end;
    if Exponent < 0 then
      Exit(1 / Times(Value,Exponent+1));
    Result := Times(Value,Exponent-1)
  end;

Generics.Defaults
The unit Generics.Defaults is included with Delphi 2009 and contains a number of pre-defined interface and class definitions. Note that if you want to examine the details of unit Generics.Defaults when placed in a uses clause, you need to press down the control key and click on the Defaults part, not on the Generics part. The first definition is for IComparer<T>, an interface that defines a Compare function, taking Left and Right arguments of type T, returning an integer value (< 0 if left smaller than right, > 0 is left is bigger than right).

  type
    IComparer<T> = interface
      function Compare(const Left, Right: T): Integer;
    end;

   TComparison<T> = reference to function(const Left, Right: T): Integer;

  TComparer<T> = class(TInterfacedObject, IComparer<T>)
  public
    class function Default: IComparer<T>;
    class function Construct(const Comparison: TComparison<T>): IComparer<T>;
    function Compare(const Left, Right: T): Integer; virtual; abstract;
  end;

IEqualityComparer<T> is an interface that defines an Equals function (taking a Left and Right argument of type T again), as well as a GetHashCode function. This interface can be used to compare two generic values in order to check if they are equal. To support this interface, two function references were defined:

  TEqualityComparison<T> = reference to function(const Left, Right: T): Boolean;

  THasher<T> = reference to function(const Value: T): Integer;

  TEqualityComparer<T> = class(TInterfacedObject, IEqualityComparer<T>)
  public
    class function Default: IEqualityComparer<T>; static;

    class function Construct(const EqualityComparison: TEqualityComparison<T>;
      const Hasher: THasher<T>): IEqualityComparer<T>;

    function Equals(const Left, Right: T): Boolean;
      reintroduce; overload; virtual; abstract;
    function GetHashCode(const Value: T): Integer;
      reintroduce; overload; virtual; abstract;
  end;

Also included are a TDelegatedComparer<T> and TDelegatedEqualityComparer<T> which are required, since the TComparer<T> and TEqualityComparer<T> are abstract base classes. Finally, we can also find the classes TCustomComparer<T> and TStringComparer (specific for Strings).

Delphi 2009 Development Essentials
This article is an excerpt from my Delphi 2009 Development Essentials courseware manual which has been sent in PDF format to all my clients, and which is sold at Lulu.com.