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Indeed. I was working in/on C++ back in the late 80s and the 90s and I decided a few years ago to do a project with it.

I took the approach of learning it as a brand new language that I knew nothing about, and especially avoiding thinking about what I already knew about C++ and especially C. The result was a language that yes, is a pleasure to work in.

Of course some context could not be ignored: there are about six ways to do many things because of back compatibility. But that back compatibility is why so many people use it. I write in one style, and just know the others for reading other people's code.

Yeah, that's me, I used C++ professionally throughout the 90s and early 2000s, then switched to C# (and C for embedded). Unfortunately, the C++ code bases I work with are equally old so I also have to look for a brand-new project to re-learn modern C++.

Just like any other language.

Users of 1996's Java won't recognise Java 21, or 2001's C# versus C# 12.

As someone who learned JavaScript in the late 90s I feel the same way sometimes! If I'd gone away from the ecosystem and returned recently I think it would feel extremely alien.