"the question is why did C++ survive the Javapocalypse"...

I was thinking you can't run Java on AVR, but you can run C++ (Arduino..)

But here you go:

https://atmega32-avr.com/java-virtual-machine-for-the-atmel-...

Even so, this VM is written is C, with no JIT compiler on the 8K microcontroller, so C++ is much faster. Hmm.. now I'm wondering if GCJ could work with avr-gcc..