I bought Delphi 1 when it came out – and was hooked. When BCB came out (around D3, iirc), I switched, mainly because I have used C/C++ professionally for a few decades.
I have “been away” for 7 or 8 years and am now returning. I still have BCB 6 & Delphi 7 (not to mention Kylix).
I always felt more comfortable with C++ than Pascal – purely because of work-day familiarity. But, realistically, iirc, most 3rd party VCL components are coded in Delphi/Pascal. And I think I used to have problems debugging Delphi components from BCB, but I could well remember wrongly.
Anyhoo, now I am back and intend to use VCL components / hack the code of same / debug them & code a few of my own.
Given that I am slightly more comfortable with C++, is there any compelling reason to choose Delphi over BCB, or is this just a case of how long my particular piece of string is?
I’m originally a C++Builder user, but I have come to learn and love the Delphi language. I use both frequently, each in its own domain: I prefer Delphi for UI-centric code (components) or when I want to use modern language features (generics, anonymous methods, RTTI, class polymorphism), but C++Builder when I need to interface with 3rd-party C or C++ code (which happens frequently). Even when using C++Builder, I can write a part of my application in Delphi.
My suggestion would be to generally prefer Delphi for component development. You can use Delphi components in both Delphi and C++Builder; components written in C++ restrict you to C++Builder.
The newer IDEs (BDS 2006 and above) have both Delphi and C++Builder integrated. Debugging Delphi code in a C++ application now is a breeze.
However, if you already have existing components written in C++, I’d just maintain them in C++Builder. There’s no reason to migrate them over to Delphi unless you want to consume them from Delphi as well.