I think we conflate the language learning curve with the problem domain learning curve. Is what throws people about C++ actually the language, or is it "thinkin

I think we conflate the language learning curve with the problem domain learning curve. Is what throws people about C++ actually the language, or is it "thinking with pointers" and "concurrent programming with shared memory"? My CS education taught me those things (at least to a beginner level) in C. I suspect this would give me a major advantage at "C++" over someone who had never seen them. Even though we are both newbies to C++ itself. Dependency management is a chore. Chores are different across language ecosystems, but it doesn't exactly stretch your mind to learn how they're done in different areas. Whereas minds really do catch on problems like pointers, locks, recursion, etc. and we can legitimately wonder whether someone is going to become okay at them anytime soon, or ever. I saw friends wash out of CS over these topics.