[oneofthose]

You can of course implement the same functionality using either C or C++. I agree - the two implementations would be very similar. But I don't think this is the point Bjarne is trying to make.

C++ challenges you to think in terms of types instead of functions. This is in my opinion often a more natural way to approach and solve problems and thus produces more elegant code. Because of that, C++ is a very powerful tool for library developers - you can design libraries that allow domain-specific developers to write expressive code that performs as if you had written more verbose C code. And this C++ code is not only more expressive for your fellow co-workers to read and understand but also in some cases for the compiler. This is the reason why C++ code can sometimes be compiled to faster machine code: you can give the compiler more information about what you actually try to accomplish (keyword: template meta-programming).

As with most things there is no definite answer. C code can be quite elegant and appropriate as well.