Software can still rely on components written in C++ but new code is largely written in another language.

C++ can also be superseded not by one but by a fragmented ecosystem of several programming languages. There doesn't have to be a single successor.

Let's say 40% of systems are still written in C++, but the remaining 60% are split equally between language A and language B. Even though neither A or B surpass C++ individually, they would still count as superseding C++ together if both are clear alternatives.

The overall resolution criteria is that among new code written towards system workloads, C++ usage falls below 50% according to GitHub statistics on open source contributions or the annual StackOverflow survey. Note that the source for this metric can be subject to change if the numbers provided by GitHub or StackOverflow become less representative by the time the market closes.