Matlab is one of the top 20 programming languages in the world still after 60 years according to the TIOBE index [0]. It has maintained a large user-base and achieved profitability over this time, not by adopting every PL trend that has come and gone, but by adapting to new developments while staying focused on its essence as a language. It proves you can stay current without doing what C++ is doing.

Matlab's usage is down a bit since a peak at 2017, but over the last 20 years it's up over 300%, and it's done so by being a for-profit language. Mathworks is a billion dollar company, which is quite an achievement in the PL space in 2022.

Meanwhile C++ usage is up over the last couple years but the long term trend has been a steady decline over the last 20 years [1]. From 14% to a low of 4%, now back up to around 8%.

[0] https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/matlab/

[1] https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/cplusplus/

Citing TIOBE instantly demonstrates a fatally bankrupt argument: changes in TIOBE ratings have essentially nothing to do with actual usage, or with anything else quantifiable.

TIOBE is statistical noise. You would equally meaningfully cite your tea leaves, or crows flying overhead.

Okay, well then I suppose you have a better citation for your unsupported assertion that Matlab has been in decline for many years. I've backed up most of my assertions with citations, I think it's time you brought some sources to the discussion. What is your basis for anything that you've been saying here?

I mean, if TIOBE was really statistical noise as your claim, there wouldn't be clear trends in industry reflected in the data, like the rise of Python in the last few years. And yet we see it, so clearly it's measuring something.