It seems likely that C++ will end up in a similar place as COBOL or Fortran, but I don't see that as a good future for a language. These languages are not amon

It seems likely that C++ will end up in a similar place as COBOL or Fortran, but I don't see that as a good future for a language. These languages are not among the top contenders for new projects. They're a legacy problem, and are kept alive only by a slowly shrinking number of projects. It may take a while to literally drop to zero, but it's a path of exponential decay towards extinction. C++ has strong arguments for sticking around as a legacy language for several too-big-to-rewrite C++ projects, but it's becoming less and less attractive for starting new projects. C++ needs a better selling point than being a language that some old projects are stuck with. Without growth from new projects, it's only a matter of time until it's going to be eclipsed by other languages and relegated to shrinking niches.