I always tell web developers I teach that the language of the internet isn’t JavaScript it’s C++.

Web devs are just users playing in a C++ dev’s program. ;)

I tend to think of the web and the internet as distinct things.

For the language of the web I'd probably nominate HTML.

For the language of the internet it's a lot less clear to me.

Many browser rendering engines are built in C++, so C++ is parsing the HTML. My general point is that many web/internet techs that web devs interact with have C++ one abstraction level below for actual implementation.

I agree with you, and it amuses me to no end when I (rarely) use Wt to make a simple webpage. C++ to js (very roughly) rendered by c++.

Continuing the analogy, browser devs are just users playing in C/OS/kernel program.