I have read &quot;Worse is better.&quot;  The point I was trying to make was different:<p>&gt; Then they get extended gradually in direction of what they should&#x27;ve been.<p>Yes, this is the part I&#x27;m disputing.  It seems to me that C and C++ are <i>not</i> being extended in &quot;the direction they should have been&quot; but rather in a direction that is beneficial mainly to a small incumbent minority.  Everyone agrees that security is important, and yet it is virtually impossible to write secure code in C or C++, not because it would violate the laws of physics or some mathematical theorem, but because both the standards and the implementations are hopelessly brain-damaged.