Grice's Maxims apply. In many cases it's weird to have the "or" where we're otherwise very specific.
"Wanna go get a burger/pasty ?" seems pretty reasonable if we happen to live somewhere that a burger or a pasty are reasonable food alternatives. Maybe there's a burger van parked on the corner, and there's also a shop that sells pasties. Pizza is food, but it's not an option here.
"Wanna buy a house/chocolate bar ?" seems very weird. Why these specific alternatives? Do you live somewhere with a confectioner and a real estate business and nothing else? Even so, what sort of person isn't sure which of these things they would buy ?
C/C++ is closer to the latter the more you know about both languages.
> 2+ years of experience with one or more general purpose programming languages including but not limited to: Java, C/C++, C#, Python, JavaScript, PowerShell
> Experience in software development, using one or more general purpose programming languages (e.g., C/C++, Java, Python, JavaScript, C#, Go, Objective-C).
> The AMD Display Solutions Team is seeking a talented engineer to help develop new SW features, bring-up new graphics cards and make AMD’s driver software industry leading. This role offers the opportunity to show off your technical skills in kernel mode debugging, solving complex engineering problems and architecting new C/C++ code.
So one can be pedantic as they want, not accepting jobs that state C/C++ or whatever, meanwhile the companies that rule the world of C and C++, and their evolution, seem to know what it is all about.
In the cases where it's a list the problem is really obvious. If I wrote that I should like to buy clothing such as "Cardigans, Blouses/Socks, Waistcoats, Trousers, Skirts, Shorts" that's obviously really weird. Do I think Blouses and Socks are the same kind of thing? Why aren't they just listed individually like the others? Weird.
Notice that none of the lists write Java/Javascript or Go/Python because that would be silly, so why do they write C/C++?
Beyond that, take the ARM job. You'd have us believe that description says C/C++ meaning either C or C++. But it's an LLVM developer job. It says C/C++ because the person typing it up didn't think there's much difference.
Maybe ARM is open to hiring people who don't actually know any C++ for this position, there's no salary indication and it's not highlighted as a senior role, so perhaps they're hiring fresh graduates whose C++ would be terrible anyway, a few weeks of Kate's Pluralsight courses and reviewing other people's contributions might get good non-C++ candidates up to speed. But I wouldn't bet on it, applying if you aren't a C++ programmer is likely a waste of your time.
For the AMD one I can actually believe AMD would take a great C developer. They need Linux kernel support just as much as Windows, and unless AMD is going to start writing in Rust that'll be C code. If you send Linus code that thinks it's basically all the same he's going to have a meltdown and make your life miserable.
But for Apple we're back to I just don't believe C candidates will get this job. That's C++ software again, they just aren't outright admitting it isn't a C job, but once it's apparent you are a C programmer you don't meet their actual needs. Their mistake, not yours, but it's your time and effort.
I have no special insight, but in my experience employers often have a significant gap between what they intended and what is achieved during pre-hiring contact with prospective employees, as employers get larger and roles less specialised everything is going via HR. So if HR writes C/C++ there's every chance that the actual people you'd work with wish it wouldn't.
About a year after getting my current role we were asked about our recruitment experience, me and also people who'd arrived more recently. I pointed out that they use Outlook so much as a Microsoft shop that they'd actually sent candidate interviews out as internal Outlook appointments. Everything looked fine to them, "3pm Friday, Interview tialaramex" but er, I don't run Outlook, so I just have a blank email telling me that the interview is booked. When? Where? Who with?
Now, obviously this is not my first rodeo, so I inspected the email, and internally it has a bunch of Microsoft flavoured vCalendar or iCalendar or whatever. But because Microsoft's idea of "timezones" is nonsensical (No Microsoft, "GMT" does not mean "You know, the time in London" just stop doing that) I emailed the HR contact to confirm I have the time right, and of course the HR contact screwed up. So, even though the people doing the interview have "3pm Friday, Interview tialaramex" on their calendar, the HR contact says, "It's 2pm Friday. Thanks for your enquiry" which then added even more confusion.
Anyway, all of this was completely invisible from inside the organisation. And apparently some other candidates in my pool had similar confusion. Do they lose candidates this way? Nobody knows for sure. Ouch.
