Ok, we're using C++ in Leetcode...and that's it?

Feb 15, 2026

I learned C++ and… I barely use it.

Not because I dislike it. Actually, I like C++. I like how explicit it is. I like the control and freedom it gives me.

But if I’m being honest, my C++ usage today is basically:

LeetCode. And that’s it.

Meanwhile, languages like Python and Go somehow keep showing up in my real life.
Python is the “just get it done” language, usually where I want to automate something, write a script or simply don’t have that much time.
Go is the “this should be a service” language—clean tooling, simple deployment, straightforward concurrency.

C++? It’s the language I learned and leetcode with it when I want something from the Algorithm library.

Why this happens (I think)

There is no good package manager in C++. I used vc, cmake, pixie and more, nothing actually feels good or “native”. This result in a severe complexity cap on my projects, for someone like me that enjoys using new tools all the time I don’t really blame C++ as a language for that but I absolutely blame the committee tasked with maintaining it.

Counterpoint

Some folks could counter that C++ never needed a good manager “because it is a tool you need for speed, low latency, so most code will be code that you (or your company) wrote which is easy to import and use” and that might be true actually. But it still does not change my experience with the language. I am not a trader for a reason, not because I don’t want to make money but because I like playing with new tools, and C++ definitely does not make that easy for me.

The weird part

C++ is the one that took the most effort to learn, and the first language I learnt purely from books, rather than video tutorials. I am far from a professional, but I probably can have a good knack at it. Unfortunately, that could be why I treat it like it needs a “big reason” to exist.

And most days, I don’t have that big reason—so I default back to what’s convenient, usually python.

Going forward

I think I will try using C++ to write good algorithms and visualize them with Pythons. I’ve been thinking of doing Kirchhoff’s theorem visualizer a while ago, so maybe C++ for the actual logic and Python to nicely visualize it, We will see.