Through a series of random mumblings too hard to explain here, I landed on this amazing thread on comp.lang.c++.moderated . Basically, the thread is a significant rant about why C++ is horrible and it posts a link to a site that actually rips apart the C++ FAQs. That site has taken up amazing amounts of the author's time and energy and definitely deserves a link here. My suggestion is that you take the time and go through the site here but if you just want to cut to the chase, here's a list of some articles that I went through: Defective C++ Big Picture Issues Classes and Objects Input-Output There's tons of other useful information on that site that you must experience for yourself. However, before leaving you, here's a bunch of other random stuff that I've been reading: The fully legal Programming in Scala first edition ebook The lawsuit between Oracle and Google: Can you Copyright Computer Languages? A brief history of Microsoft's dirty le