Power of C/C++ is in embedding into a higher level language like Python,PHP,ruby,perl,lua etc.
Main reason why u want to do this is pointers.
Prime example is NumPy lib is python.
Math lib that allows u to manipulate large arrays/matrix.
Because of pointers its speed is almost that of C/C++.
What makes it more powerful, is allocate memory for matrix with python.
Then lets say u have a math operation u want to do on that matrix.
Using C/C++ u can access the memory using another module u created in C/C++.
So basically ur grunt work is done is C/C++ and python is just the "glue".
Where problems can happen.
U fuk up ur pointers. In this case u get a memory leak.
Or worse yet u get a segmentation fault.
As rule of thumb.
Make ur algo in scripting language.
So lets say ur doing a flood fill to break a captcha.
Don't worry about speed. Just make sure it works.
Then u profile the code. See what functions are being called, how much time is being spent in each function.
U see in ur flood fill, certain function is being called 2000 times at 1ms per call.
Optimize that one with C/C++.
One the other hand do not waste ur time optimizing another function that is called 1x
