I've been laboring in D2007, and am soon to leap forward to XE5. I have read and read, but am still having issues coming to grips with attributes. I see what they are, and how to write them, but when I look at the code to access them, and read so many comments about RTTI overhead, I am left wondering about why and when to use them.

I've been laboring in D2007, and am soon to leap forward to XE5. I have read and read, but am still having issues coming to grips with attributes. I see what they are, and how to write them, but when I look at the code to access them, and read so many comments about RTTI overhead, I am left wondering about why and when to use them.

Most of the example code I have seen is either trivial and fails to illuminate the why, or is part of a fairly large framework where the why will only become clear once I have become intimate with the framework. 

If anyone can point me to a middle of the road example, I would appreciate it.