> writing applications that will almost certainly execute or process hostile content in languages that don't maintain strict memory safe contract?
That point is 50% FUD. A language which "maintains strict memory safe contracts" but has an `unsafe` keyword; or has a "native code interface", or uses libraries implemented in a different language, doesn't really strictly maintain its guarantees. And on the other hand, a language in which you can, in principle, load and execute arbitrary code from a string you got from the user, can be hardened very well by statically-checkable constraints.
So, it's a matter of degrees rather than absolutes. If you then add considerations such as programming paradigm flexibility and performance, C++ is very much a valid choice even for the use case of a browser.
That point is 50% FUD. A language which "maintains strict memory safe contracts" but has an `unsafe` keyword; or has a "native code interface", or uses libraries implemented in a different language, doesn't really strictly maintain its guarantees. And on the other hand, a language in which you can, in principle, load and execute arbitrary code from a string you got from the user, can be hardened very well by statically-checkable constraints.
So, it's a matter of degrees rather than absolutes. If you then add considerations such as programming paradigm flexibility and performance, C++ is very much a valid choice even for the use case of a browser.