C++ gives you fine grained control over the machine, which is something these fields often need (I am in the computer vision/AI segment). When you are using Int

C++ gives you fine grained control over the machine, which is something these fields often need (I am in the computer vision/AI segment). When you are using Intel Intrinsics, MKL, etc., just to get enough performance to barely do the job, you can't afford to throw that control away to garbage collection, reference counting, and all that. I use higher level languages for the things they are great for - the 'batteries included' features of Python, for example, or the functional+high availability of Erlang. And they are great languages for what they are designed to be used for. Not every C/C++ programmer (I say with considerable understatement) is an obsolete, corporate hack unaware of the state of the art in computer languages and tools. We wrote your compilers, your languages, your VMs, your toolsets, your OS, your math libraries, your, well, you get the idea :)