I used Delphi 5 Pro for quite a few years. This site was the best for free components etc..
http://www.torry.net/

I don't know how much it has for Lazarus, if any.

One of the cool things about Delphi was you could take most any TWinControl and convert it to an ActiveX Control just by reflecting the methods into the VCL Control. The wizard made a wrapper and you just filled in the blanks.

C++ has an incredible amount of libraries. I personally didn't like C++ syntax but many people with background in C feel very comfortable with C++.

Between Delphi and C++, there are more posts on C++ for help and more support.

If starting to learn, go with C++, as you will have more support and libraries (Look at boost, it is a monster libraray beside the STL).

Delphi is very strongly typed language, originally conceived to teach programming and expanded from there to it's modern day use, which is a pain as compared to C++ which works with "trust the programmer" model which means possibly more errors but lets you work easier in the long run with great flexibility.

CBuilder has the easy GUI building capabilities unlike C++ but it is a commercial product.

I personally think that Delphi has an incredibly ugly syntax.
C++ is at least on par with it, yet has the more beatiful syntax.
Also C++ is the standard language, however you won't have that much problems finding the right library for Delphi though

delphi is great and has good syntax to easy learning. I use Lazarus as it works with free pascal and allows for development for Linux, Windows, and Apple as well as other OS.

yes! I heard that it somehow related to pascal or something.. Anyway, ended up not trying it since... it is not free and old or outdated
But yes, it seems quite interesting.

I'm currently learning it, while studying about Cheat Engine (I heard this was made by Delphi)

http://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphi_(pr ... _language)

Unlike Visual Basic, Delphi support access to hardware and low level programming, eliminating DLL version issues and has the fastest compile speed than any other native language