My favourite general-purpose programming language is C++: powerful and dangerous, due to its multi-paradigm essence. It offers the most advanced OOP concepts along with the ability to fine tune every design aspect, whence its well known efficient run-time performance.

It's like to pilot a jet, with the continuous danger to crash on a pointer access violation; however, switching to the more recent widespread languages, you'll inescapably feel the tiresome sensation to use your pilot's licence to drive a rail bus.

Before adopting this language for a project you should consider:

• The standard library provides just the basic facilities like data containers and file system access, so any advanced features like graphic interfaces, multi-threading or communication may imply a portability nightmare.