> because after two years C++ had something like 5x the market penetration Rust has after ten
C++ is highly backwards compatible to C to the degree that it's almost (but not quite) a superset. Of course it's quite easy to start creating cpp files. Also C++'s benefits were quickly realizable while for Rust's safety benefits to play out, you need to have replaced significant portions of highly risky components (e.g. those that parse user data, have a history of bugs, etc). Adding Rust to an existing C++ codebase is much harder than adding C++ to an existing C codebase.
Also do you have a link for your claim? I'm interested in reading on the early rise of C++.
C++ is highly backwards compatible to C to the degree that it's almost (but not quite) a superset. Of course it's quite easy to start creating cpp files. Also C++'s benefits were quickly realizable while for Rust's safety benefits to play out, you need to have replaced significant portions of highly risky components (e.g. those that parse user data, have a history of bugs, etc). Adding Rust to an existing C++ codebase is much harder than adding C++ to an existing C codebase.
Also do you have a link for your claim? I'm interested in reading on the early rise of C++.