This is definitely your papa's C++

A colleague of mine,he's old, not 100 old, actually he's closer to 50, but in IT, that's pretty old. And there's something I just don't understand, he loves C++.It's fairly common for people to have a pet programming language, which adapts to their particular desires and expectations of what a language should look like, this most often than not has more to do with their personality than actual technical prowess. A really practical guy like myself(or at least someone who thinks he is practical) loves PHP, Python and Ruby. Another colleague likes really ordered and structured things, he uses Java for most of his work. I even know a biker, boots, tattoos and all that uses smalltalk.

But this guy, when I ask him:"Papa(most of his ex-students call him that), why do you use C++?"
He just shrugs and says:"It's good,fast and gets the job done".

Now, C++ is a very powerful language, you have the world at your fingertips with it, memory management, 3D graphics, widgets, infinite libraries, fast, robust... Still many of my younger colleagues tend to avoid it, they avoid it with an almost pious observance, basking in its glory but afraid of touching it.

I know how to program in C++, I took some classes that only used C++, wanted to perform a lobotomy on myself with a paper clip and a gust of wind when I got mistakes from Visual C++ 6.0(In those dark times when I still used "That OS that can't be named"), switched to Bloodshed Dev C++, got scolded by one of my teachers for switching, she called me an "IDE whore".I even have copies of "Learn C++ through Game Programming" and "C++ How to program" from Deitel & Deitel, read them both.

Still, I always end up using other languages.

Maybe I'm just too plain old thick headed or took one too many tackles to my skull playing rugby.

I want your opinion, preferably if you earn a living as a Software Engineer, Programmer, Systems Administrator, Tech Guru or anything along these lines.

Should we call war on the old and pull the plug or embrace it like a good bodied, perfectly aged...cheese(smelly but delicious)?