The post was mostly written to point my students to, so I don't have to keep repeating myself. I get a not-insignificant number of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years (in a 5-year program) believing C is some antiquated language and believing that they're getting held back in some way by learning C vs C++. One even suggested the department was incompetent for not teaching C++. Because I work in an engineering department, many students have not had a great deal of time learning programming fundamentals early on and regardless, they are eager to learn more advanced tools than they are ready to use. It is a bit rambling for the purpose--I have a tendency to...erm, overwhelm...with information to make my point.
I haven't blogged much so I originally submitted it at lobste.rs[1] for any advice on the writing and visual style of the site. I welcome any constructive feedback. E.g. "I hate that side-nav! It keeps popping in and out!"
Also to clarify, I am not anti-C++ is anyway. I am a firm practitioner of Chesterton's fence[2] and believe in nuance. That cuts both ways. C++ is the way it is because it filled a specific need. It's greatest flaw is trying to appease everyone and, recently, trying to catch up quickly to recent QoL features in other languages. This fortunately gives it a lot of features other languages don't have, and it unfortunately gives it a lot of features other languages don't have.
Once again, the greater point being a warning, that C++ can easily become a time sink in language-specific knowledge instead of domain-specific knowledge. Of course sometimes that's what you want, e.g. when trying to optimize for performance.
[1]: https://lobste.rs/s/tul188/initialization_c_is_seriously_bon...
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Chesterton%27s_fence