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    @Giorgio: and not to forget: what you suggest has already been tried with some success - non-backwards compatible compilers exist, they are called compilers for Java, C#, D, Go etc. In all those cases language designers had removed obsolete and "bad practice" features from the language. Commented Apr 3, 2012 at 6:45
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    I do not understand the downvote: I would appreciate suggestions as to how I can improve my question. BTW: this is NOT a C++ against C question, shall I make it clear in the main text of the question? Commented Apr 3, 2012 at 7:19
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    @jk, harald: To make it more precise, I do not want to state that C is obsolete in itself (and this is not the topic of this question) but maybe some of its features are obsolete as a subset of C++. But I am quite open about this too. Commented Apr 3, 2012 at 7:21
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    I think people downvoting the question should reread it carefully. It is an interesting question about the relationship between c and c++. @Giorgio you should rework your question by making it shorter and clearer, and avoid puting C is an obsolete language as your first bullet point. It is the first thing people will read and they will stop there. Commented Apr 3, 2012 at 8:15
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    "...wide-spread opinion within the C++ community that:" "C is an obsolete language ..." Is there in the world a developer who uses a lot of C++ who doesn't under why C++ is compatible with most of C? Bjorn explains why this is in his seminal book. " new and delete should be replaced by smart pointer primitives" What gave you that idea? New and delete are core operators in C++. Without them it wouldn't be C++. Smart pointers are handy wrappers around new and delete, they are not replacements for them. Perhaps you've been hanging around too many Java programers, ;) Commented Apr 3, 2012 at 16:19