And C++ is not really the right language to try functional approaches. (You should at least at a garbage collector to vanilla C++ if you want to try.)

Well... you actually can try out functional approaches in C++, and even gain something out of it. It's just that doing so requires a sophisticated understanding of C++.

And probably a sophisticated understanding FP as well, if you want to apply it in such a hostile environment.

Not really a good idea when you are starting out, I guess.