If Not Friend Then Why Friend Shaped

The entire tech industry building massive, complex systems while Rust sits in the corner like that one tiny critical bolt holding everything together. Sure, let's keep piling more JavaScript frameworks on top while pretending our foundation isn't held together by some memory-safe code written by people who actually care about not segfaulting in production. That single Rust component is probably preventing half the internet from imploding on Tuesday afternoons.

The programming language you choose apparently dictates your entire personality. Low-level language devs (Assembly, C++, Java) become muscular specimens who probably bench press servers in their spare time. Rust programmers evolve into anime protagonists with questionable hairstyles. JavaScript folks transform into tactical operators ready to deploy hotfixes like special forces. And Python users? They become that one guy at the office who's just a bit too smug about solving everything in one line of code. The circle of programming life complete.

The embedded systems world is having a full-blown affair with C/C++ while giving Rust the cold shoulder. Despite Rust's memory safety guarantees and zero-cost abstractions, embedded devs keep crawling back to their toxic exes C and C++. It's like watching someone choose dial-up when fiber is available because "we've always done it this way." The embedded community's relationship status with C/C++ is definitely: "It's complicated" – and by complicated, I mean "refusing to move on despite all the segfaults and buffer overflows."

The linguistic anthropology of programming languages we never asked for but desperately needed. C as Latin? Spot on—ancient, foundational, and nobody actually uses it conversationally anymore. The C++ as French comparison is *chef's kiss*. Needlessly complex rules that somehow make you feel inferior for not mastering them? Oui, c'est vrai. JavaScript as English hits too close to home—everyone cobbles together enough to get by, nobody follows the rules, and it somehow powers the entire world despite being a complete mess. And that Python burn... created to be easy but its users "could benefit from a shower once in a while." I've been in enough Python conferences to confirm this isn't entirely fiction. The Rust/Russian comparison might be the most accurate—passionate evangelists absolutely convinced their way is the only path to salvation. Memory safety or gulag, comrade!

Ah, the classic "C/C++ is dead" narrative that's been circulating since approximately the Jurassic period. This meme perfectly captures the eternal resilience of C/C++ despite countless obituaries written by trendy language evangelists. Every few years, some shiny new language comes along promising to be the "C++ killer" - yet there's C/C++, smugly posing next to its own grave, refusing to die. Meanwhile, critical infrastructure, operating systems, game engines, and performance-critical applications are still running on these supposedly "ancient" languages. The smirk says it all: "Nice try, Rust/Go/whatever... I've been declared dead more times than a soap opera villain, and I'm still powering the world while you're trying to figure out your package manager."

The ultimate renewable resource isn't solar or wind—it's the endless energy of C++ developers triggering Rust evangelists. Just say "I really like C++" through a solar-powered loudspeaker, and watch an army of Rust zealots charge uphill to lecture you about memory safety. They'll inevitably fall through your trapdoor, spin your turbine on their way down, and get neatly deposited at the bottom—ready to climb again when you repeat your "controversial" statement. Forget nuclear fusion; we've harnessed something far more reliable: programmer tribalism.