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C++ ("C Plus Plus") is a general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as a middle-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup in 1979 at Bell Labs as an enhancement to the C programming language and originally named "C with Classes". It was renamed to C++ in 1983. C++ is widely used in the software industry. Some of its application domains include systems software, device drivers, embedded software, high-performance server and client applications, and entertainment software such as video games. Several groups provide both free and commercial C++ compiler software, including the GNU Project, Microsoft, Intel, Borland and others. The language began as enhancements to C, first adding classes, then virtual functions, operator overloading, multiple inheritance, templates, and exception handling among other features. After years of development, the C++ programming language standard was ratified in 1998 as ISO/IEC 14882:1998. The current standard is the 2003 version, ISO/IEC 14882:2003. The next standard version (known informally as C++0x) is in development. C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled language where compilation creates machine code for a target machine hardware. HistoryStroustrup began work on C with Classes in 1979. The idea of creating a new language originated from Stroustrup's experience in programming for his Ph.D. thesis. Stroustrup found that Simula had features that were very helpful for large software development, but the language was too slow for practical use, while BCPL was fast but too low-level to be suitable for large software development. When Stroustrup started working in AT&T Bell Labs, he had the problem of analyzing the UNIX kernel with respect to distributed computing. Remembering his Ph.D. experience, Stroustrup set out to enhance the C language with Simula-like features. C was chosen because it was general-purpose, fast, portable and widely used. Besides C and Simula, some other languages that inspired him were ALGOL 68, ADA, CLU and ML. At first, the class, derived class, strong type checking, inlining, and default argument features were added to C via Cfront. The first commercial release occurred in October 1985. In 1983, the name of the language was changed from C with Classes to C++ (++ being the increment operator in C and C++). New features were added including virtual functions, function name and operator overloading, references, constants, user-controlled free-store memory control, improved type checking, and BCPL style single-line comments with two forward slashes (//). In 1985, the first edition of The C++ Programming Language was released, providing an important reference to the language, since there was not yet an official standard. In 1989, Release 2.0 of C++ was released. New features included multiple inheritance, abstract classes, static member functions, const member functions, and protected members. In 1990, The Annotated C++ Reference Manual was published. This work became the basis for the future standard. Late addition of features included templates, exceptions, namespaces, new casts, and a Boolean type. As the C++ language evolved, a standard library also evolved with it. The first addition to the C++ standard library was the stream I/O library which provided facilities to replace the traditional C functions such as printf and scanf. Later, among the most significant additions to the standard library, was the Standard Template Library. C++ continues to be used and is still one of the preferred programming languages to develop professional applications. The language has gone from being mostly Western, to attracting programmers from all over the world. Article source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%2B%2B Go back to Programming Articles home page
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