[wonderzombie]

The difference is that languages can have more pitfalls, more severe pitfalls, pitfalls which are more difficult to detect, and so on.

I don't love Java, not by any stretch, but it's difficult to argue that Java and C++ are anywhere near equivalent in this dimension. Effective C++ is littered with examples of gotchas which are highly peculiar to C++ and the C++ compiler. It's an incredibly complex language.

Whether C++ worth these trade-offs for a particular team, project, or company is orthogonal.