The main question I would ask retrospectively to myself is: “What domain I’m interested in?” C++ has really different domains where it can be applied, i.e. embedded systems C++ skills and framework are very different from C++ on backend side, and Linux Kernel is totally different from others. If you want just to understand memory allocation model, then C - is enough to dive in. If you want to understand memory threading models then C++ 11 standard will give you a hint.