The code one writes does get simpler. Unfortunately, the code some dozen developers write ends up with all imaginable ways of writing the same thing. That's my biggest pain with C++.
I don't know. I don't have the same problem with Lua and Python. Lua is simply small enough not to have baggage and Python seems to have a healthy community that keeps updated with best practices. It also helps that both languages are designed to be readable. C is also simple enough, as long as code doesn't abuse pointers.
