It doesn't surprise me; that sounds exactly like how C++ has progressed (sans the enterprise beans, hopefully). 10+ years ago I considered myself proficient at

It doesn't surprise me; that sounds exactly like how C++ has progressed (sans the enterprise beans, hopefully). 10+ years ago I considered myself proficient at C++. It made sense, I didn't mind the pointers, and while the std library still felt clunky, it was fine. But I tabled these skills, and they indeed rusted a bit, but surely I could bring them out when needed again, right? Smart pointers with multiple variants, judicious use of macros, rampant use of double colons to ensure proper namespace resolution (which IMHO makes the code an absolute eyesore), to name a few. I won't argue these changes aren't necessary, but it isn't pretty.