Still true for C++. Can still mentally map new features to the core language C. A modern Cfront transpiler can still be written.
Template meta-programming maps to C pre-processor macros. The sad part with both is generated code cannot be examined thus the unreadable compiler errors and slower compilation as it's regenerated every time.
Slightly off-topic: Rust can also be mentally mapped to C.
That place is C++/Lua, with most of the code in Lua. Concurrency model is thread-per-lua-state. Interthread comms is message passing implemented via textbook c++11 atomic and condition variables. Lua is just a small C library so the style remains very friendly to those who like C with classes.
Article also misses: comparing speed of full rebuilds. Pch gives massive speedup on edit-compile-debug cycle or when several modules can share a single pch.
after `if` and `elseif` the parser simply goes on until it finds `then`.