there is no good reason to use c++. it is verbose, needs two files for one class, it can cause memory leaks and security holes like no other and last but not least you need to be on the mensa list to be effective in it.
really we can make this argument about anything. c++ has its uses. so does node. so does php. as for myself the only language i have difficulty understanding the purpose of has to be ruby. its more difficult than php, not as readable as python, does not run on the client like javascript and does not offer real functional programming like haskell, it is not as syntactically simple as lisp and it is outperformed by almost everything else. but then i have not used it. maybe somebody could enlighten me?
Business loves easy-to-build websites. That's how Rails got traction. It promises a quick way to market -- and that's not a lie -- but the maintenance cost over time grows way too much for it to be worth it. Rails is awesome for MVPs, prototypes and small projects. An argument can be made for mid-sized projects; depends on the other dependencies, but IMO it shouldn't be used in the mid-sized area.
Still, businessmen prefer short-term gains over saving costs in the long-term. And that's how Rails gained popularity. And that's why many devs, me included, are having a very hard time moving away from it -- in my case to Go and Elixir.
really we can make this argument about anything. c++ has its uses. so does node. so does php. as for myself the only language i have difficulty understanding the purpose of has to be ruby. its more difficult than php, not as readable as python, does not run on the client like javascript and does not offer real functional programming like haskell, it is not as syntactically simple as lisp and it is outperformed by almost everything else. but then i have not used it. maybe somebody could enlighten me?