Try To Learn Delphi Programming Or Not?

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Besides C/C++, I want to learn another programming language and since a piece of my heart had always been with Pascal I thought I could try learning Delphi (the so called Object Pascal). My pro programmer friends told me not to waste my time on it but well I did what my heart said.
Now I am facing this problem that updated learning resources for Delphi is scarce and there's almost no course to go to learn it. Most resources you may found are outdated, really outdated. The only updated resource you may find is the book of Mr. Cantu but again, it's got this serious problem that it's not exercise-based. Mr Cantu's book is fully descriptive and very comprehensive but you won't receive any exercise and no programme writing project would be assigned to the student. It's all descriptions and explanations. As you know, without doing serious exercises one can't become a good programmer.
Now I gradually think that I should listen to my friends about putting Delphi away. Should I do that & forget about Delphi (Object pascal)?