user81412: I have an arduino board (SAMD21 microcontroller) which supports either Arduino or CircuitPython programming. I'd like to program in pure C/C++ instead of Arduino, which seems to be possible without too much trouble. But I'm not sure whether to use C or C++. I thought Arduino was based in C++ but I went to look at some of the library files and they were written in C. Since I'm pretty sure they're not interchangeable, can someone help me learn which language I should use to program my board?

user313: 
I thought Arduino was based in C++

There is no language "Arduino" - the Arduino IDE runs a the GNU C++ compiler so "its language" is the language supported by the compiler. It is primarily C++ with a little bit of preprocessing done to your code to help learners get past some of the places they can trip over easily (adding #include statements when it thinks you need them, for instance).
Here is an answer I wrote to a similar question a few years ago. I think it's relevant to your question.

81412: <p>I have an arduino board (SAMD21 microcontroller) which supports either Arduino or CircuitPython programming. I'd like to program in pure C/C++ instead of Arduino, which seems to be possible without too much trouble. But I'm not sure whether to use C or C++. I thought Arduino was based in C++ but I went to look at some of the library files and they were written in C. Since I'm pretty sure they're not interchangeable, can someone help me learn which language I should use to program my board?</p>
 313: <blockquote>
<p>I thought Arduino was based in C++</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There is no language &quot;Arduino&quot; - the Arduino IDE runs a the GNU C++ compiler so &quot;its language&quot; is the language supported by the compiler. It is primarily C++ with a little bit of preprocessing done to your code to help learners get past some of the places they can trip over easily (adding #include statements when it thinks you need them, for instance).</p>
<p>Here is an <a href="https://arduino.stackexchange.com/a/824/313">answer I wrote to a similar question</a> a few years ago. I think it's relevant to your question.</p>
