All people, regardless of the profession in which they grasp the meaning of life, are divided into pragmatists and fanatics.
Pragmatists may be excellent professionals. But they do not drive progress. Because their main goal is to make money through their profession. Yes, they are constantly learning and improving. Because that's how they accumulate their competitive advantage over other professionals, and increase their chances of getting a better position, a better salary, a better parking spot...
Pragmatists work for results, and usually achieve them.
Fanatics, on the other hand, are alien to all that is mundane. Fanatics don't care about the result, they care about the process. They enjoy the process. And it's the fanatics who drive progress.
Tell me, would we have gone into space if we had only thought about profit? Of course not. Because it is obviously a loss-making event.
Pragmatic programmers learn simple languages. It is important for them to learn how to make programs as quickly as possible and start getting money for it.
Programmers-fanatics learn any language. And they especially like complex languages, because fanatics care about the process, they get a thrill out of it.
If you are a pragmatist, you should learn C# or Python.
But if you are a fanatic, if you want to go to the "dark side of power", then study C and C++.
These languages are not as popular today as they used to be. Because the time of fanatics is passing. That time is being replaced by a time of pragmatists.
Pragmatists do not care how a library function works. The main thing for them is to make it as easy as possible to use. To save time and make more money per time unit.
Fanatics always want to get to the bottom of it. They write these libraries, drivers, system utilities, development tools and operating systems themselves. They're on the dark side of programming, so nobody even sees how their code works or suspects that this code even exists.
But fanatics don't need to. All that matters to them is that they know it and see it. And others are just like them.
It's like enjoying the silence in a little house by the lake, sipping wine and watching the sunset. You and only you. And the sunset (or sunrise). No one disturbs this harmony.
The destiny of pragmatists is noisy crowded beaches, where it is quite comfortable and expensive, but for a couch you have to knock out a neighbor's tooth.
If you are a programming fanatic (or just want to become one, because it corresponds to your worldview), then you simply must learn C++ - a powerful universal programming language, which can handle any task, and which will show you the dark side of power - it is in this language such operating systems as Unix/Linux and Windows are written, this language is created most libraries and drivers, and this language is complicated enough that pragmatics do not want to learn it ...