Yep, I agree with you wholeheartedly Xorcist. If you want to learn the language, try writing only console apps for a while. This can speed up the learning process since you worry about language problems rather than GUI implementation details. Also, it gives you slightly more chance to look at a GUI app with an understanding of what's declared and why (e.g. the "TForm1 = class(TForm)" bit).

Not that there's a chance in hell of convincing someone learning Delphi to stay away from the GUI .

A top tip, btw: if you're not sure about something, whack up a sample program just for that task (e.g., create a new app with an edit box, a button, then make the button do something and show a message with the result). You'll end up with a massive reference of useful snippets. To put it in perspective, my Delphi programs folder contains close to 9000 files in 500 different folders. :!:

If anybody wants some more book recommendations, they were discussed in this thread. You are welcome, of course, to discuss books here as well.