[tonyedgecombe]

>This isn't an accident.

No, it's because it's effectively the only option in the browser. If you are going to write front end code then you will end up writing JavaScript in some form or another.

And being popular doesn't necessarily mean it is accessible nor simple. If it had been I doubt we would have seen Python becoming the dominant language in education.

[josephg]

Yep. Python is a dominant language because it also cares a great deal about being easy to learn and accessible to newcomers.

In comparison, C++ does not optimize to be accessible to newcomers. C++ cares a lot more about compiled code running efficiently - as is evident from its insanely complex / powerful templating system. Its hard to learn, but its very powerful. Javascript and Python have nothing like that because that wouldn't align with the values of those languages.

Python values simple code that runs fast enough over complex code that runs super fast. C++ values code running fast enough, even if the code needs to be more difficult to write to achieve that speed.