Comment by LexiMax

> but you have to understand the rationale behind C++: a language suitable for large scale systems programming with ZERO OVERHEAD.

Is this the reason why C++ was created, or the last remaining niche that C++ is holding onto?

I remember the early 90's, and it very much seemed like C++ was being pushed as both a general-purpose language and the logical successor to C, insert Linus Torvalds rant here. On top of that, C++ made the decision to privilege a form of polymorphism that had pointer-chasing baked into its internal design, as well as having a good chunk of the standard library being considered a footgun best to avoid due to how much it blew up compile-times.

I think that C++ is a zero-overhead language now because a series of general purpose languages that came afterwards took the other niches away from it, plus the benefit of 30+ years worth of compiler optimizations that were originally largely aimed at the mountain of C code that was out there.

EDIT: Almost forgot about exceptions, the other enormous performance footgun that was an early pre-standard C++ feature.