Developer: ISO/IEC JTC 1 (Joint Technical Committee 1) / SC 22 (Subcommittee 22) / WG 21 (Working Group 21)
Designed by: Bjarne Stroustrup
Family: C
Filename extensions: C,.cc,.cpp,.cxx,.c++,.h,.H,.hh,.hpp,.hxx,.h++
First appeared: 1985
Paradigms: Multi-paradigm: procedural, imperative, functional, object-oriented, generic, modular
 |
| C++ |
C++ is a high-level, general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup.
C++ is a general-purpose programming language that was first developed in 1983 by Bjarne Stroustrup as an extension of the C programming language. It is an object-oriented programming language and has been widely used in the development of operating systems, system software, application software, device drivers, and video games, among others.
C++ has a rich set of features that make it a versatile and powerful language, including support for object-oriented programming, templates, operator overloading, exception handling, and multiple inheritances. It is also a compiled language, which means that the code is translated into machine-readable code before it is executed, resulting in faster performance compared to interpreted languages.
C++ has a syntax similar to C, but with added features and syntax that make it easier to write complex programs. It is also highly portable, which means that it can be used on a wide range of platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, and embedded systems.
C++ is widely used in the development of software applications and is a popular choice for high-performance applications that require low-level access to hardware and memory. Some examples of popular applications written in C++ include Adobe Photoshop, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Office.
History
C++ was developed in the early 1980s by Bjarne Stroustrup at Bell Labs. At the time, Stroustrup was working on a project that required a language that could support object-oriented programming while still maintaining the efficiency of the C programming language. This led him to develop C++, which he initially called "C with Classes."
Stroustrup began working on C++ in 1979, and by 1983, the language had evolved enough to be used to write production code. In 1985, the first commercial implementation of C++ was released by AT&T, the company that owned Bell Labs at the time. This implementation was known as "Cfront," and it translated C++ code into C code that could be compiled using a C compiler.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, C++ grew in popularity and was adopted by many software developers and organizations. In 1998, a new ISO standard for C++ was released, known as C++98. This standard formalized many of the features that had been added to the language over the years and provided a consistent framework for the development of C++ programs.
Since then, new versions of the ISO standard have been released, including C++03, C++11, C++14, C++17, and C++20. These standards have added new features to the language and have helped to keep it up to date with the changing needs of software development.
Today, C++ is used in a wide range of applications, from operating systems and system software to video games, web browsers, and financial systems. It remains a popular choice for high-performance applications that require low-level access to hardware and memory.
