Delphi was my first introduction to programming with Borland Delphi 3 on a magazine coverdisc before we had the internet. At 12 years old and just getting into computers, I considered .exe applications with their lovely grey components to be so professional and unattainable that the ability to build my own was mind-blowing. A few years later, I had some of my freeware that I'd built in Delphi featured on that same magazine's coverdisc!
I eventually went down the web development route but I've recently, via Arduino, learnt C/C++, and am enjoying desktop development again. Compiling is exciting!