Would believe hundreds of other people have typed a similar message, questioning Arduino's fundamental design and viability of its future, pretty much every time these ugly regex limitations strike. Even though this is a fairly minor bug, it's somehow special in the conversation it always elicits. Talking about general market & tech trends (and predicting the decline/demise of very popular software) is a lot easier than diving into the thorny details of language parsing bugs and the many subtle issues with Arduino's somewhat unconventional self-configuring build.
Fortunately, the Arduino devs have been (finally) working on these long-standing issues. I've been somewhat involved in the process. Version 1.6.6 will be the first with a massively redesigned build system. Like any large software change, serious bugs will probably be discovered quickly as many people use it. I don't expect 1.6.6 to be perfect. In fact, I believe it'll be quickly replaced, like 1.6.0 and 1.6.2. But long-term, perhaps by 1.6.7 or 1.6.8, Arduino is moving to a far better build system that will make these regex issues a problem of the distant past.
Perhaps scripting languages will gradually replace Arduino & C++. I really don't know. Next year, when we have a more powerful Teensy, I'm planning to look more seriously at those systems. My goal is to help people make awesome projects, not to specifically champion one particular language. Arduino simply happens to be the most popular, best understood system available today. I can and will adapt as technologies change and improve (eg, USB didn't exist when I started). I may be an old dog by Silicon Valley standards, but I'm very capable of learning new tricks!
But I am a little cynical when I see the demise of Arduino predicted in response to this one particular regex bug. Arduino's had this bug for 10 years. It consistently prompts this exact conversation. The details of conjecture on what might replace Arduino change, but the regex error to premature predictions of Arduino's unsuitability as a long term viable platform never seem to change. Thankfully, this regex bug will be gone soon.