C++ in Coders at Work
Part of how C++ is successful is that it retains C compatibility, and C accurately models  how the computer <i>actually</i> works (at least computers of the 70s and 80s, which is all we know how to program well).  Lovely languages like lisp, python, haskell may be nicer to work with, but they do not model the underlying machine properly, and for so many problem domains that is just not acceptable. It's not just a performance question.<p>And then C++ implements several programming paradigms (object oriented, generic, etc) without compromising that machine model.<p>Plus Bjarne was truly correct when he said: "there are languages people complain about, and there are languages nobody uses."