Such a 2021 moment! Kind of envious. The first programming language follows you through your career. Mine (C++) has been a curse and a blessing at the same time. Wish you luck, sincerely. People like you define the next decades.
I disagree. My first language was C64 BASIC (in which I wrote quite a lot of games). I assure you that it did not follow me through my career :-)
Most people do it the other way around: they curse at C++ :-)
C++ has everything to provide a Java/.NET like experience, and it was on that path during the 90's, with C++ Builder being the surviving jewel of that period.
Apparently many in the community cannot grasp the world outside vi/emacs, and anything like OWL/VCL/Qt tooling is evil to be avoided at all costs.
That is how we land into a group kiling C++/CX and calling editing IDL files and managing their generated outcome by hand without any kind of VS support, progress.
Thanks, cheers to you too!
I think I did Stroustrup's "Principles and Practice Using C++" for about 12 chapters a while ago; I might revisit it later thanks to your comment.
I advise you to at least read Tour of C++ 2nd edition.
Projects like LLVM are one of the reasons C++ will stay around for decades to come, and they make use of many features that you won't find explained how they work on a book describing LLVM APIs.