[outworlder]

> But I used the language for nearly 20 years, so maybe it's experience and the patterns I've learned?

It definitely is. This is not the usual C++ experience. You are probably sidestepping all sorts of undefined behavior due to experience alone.

[taneq]

This matches my experience with C++. My code has improved hugely in simplicity and robustness as I've learned which C++ features are productive and which are just minefields.