One of the reasons why C++ is still the professionals’ language is because of its flexibility. You can use STL collections, and they’ll work as automatically and as safely as anything in Java or C#. Or you can use naked pointers into unprotected memory, and it will be as fast as old-style C, but just as dangerous. But, between these two extremes, there’s a need for something as fast and efficient as real memory, but safe – as safe as Pascal. And that’s a different animal from either.
de Programandis
on the arts of programming
