Yeah, sure, and I was able to avoid the painful years. But C# pre-generics and pre-Linq is a way less appealing language too, you know? Most languages that are popular now look kind of rough to work in several versions ago.

Oh definitely. I think that’s the case for nearly any language that’s worth the code it’s written in. C++ is an interesting case study in how to do it both right and wrong; we’re spoilt for choice and it keeps getting better every day