I've made an honest effort with C++ >= C++11. The language has improved -- lots -- but there's just no getting around the fact that:

- Most of the improvements hellaciously leverage the hideous template system, and

- Actually writing template-leveraging libraries is an exercise in pain, repetition, and insanely slow compile times.

C++ won't be a "Rust-killer" (insert any other modern low-level type parameterized systems language here) until a human being can actually read and make sense of the C++ standard library without needing to decipher repetitive, often recursive, and almost always unreadable templates.