A Brief History of C++ Language

In this lesson, you will learn

• History and Evolution of C++

History and Evolution of C++

Here’s a brief overview and history of C++ programming language.

1970s: The Roots in C

• The C programming language is the root of C++.
• Dennis Ritchie developed C in the early 1970s at Bell Labs.
• It was designed for system programming and to provide low-level memory access

1979: Birth of C++

• The development of C++ began in 1979 by Bjarne Stroustrup, also at Bell Labs.
• Stroustrup was working on his PhD thesis and was interested in adding object-oriented features to the C language, which led to the creation of “C with Classes.”
• The first commercial release of C++ was in 1985.
• This version included classes, basic inheritance, inlining, default function arguments, and strong type checking.

1983: The Naming C++

• In 1983, the language was renamed from “C with Classes” to “C++.”
• The name signifies the evolutionary nature of the changes from C (“++” is the increment operator in C and C++).

1985: The C++ Programming Language

• Bjarne Stroustrup published the first edition of “The C++ Programming Language” in 1985.
• This book served as an important guide and reference to the language, which was still evolving.

Late 1980s: More Features

• By the end of the 1980s, C++ had evolved significantly.
• Features like virtual functions, function overloading, references, constants, and operator overloading were added.

1990s: Standardization and STL

• The 1990s saw the process of standardizing C++.
• The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) were involved in this process.
• In 1998, the ISO/IEC 14882:1998 (also known as C++98) was released.
• This was the first standardized version of C++.
• It included the Standard Template Library (STL), which provided a collection of common classes and interfaces.

Updates and Improvements

• In 2003, a minor update to the standard, known as C++03, was released.
• It fixed some problems and inconsistencies identified in C++98.
• The next major revision was C++11, released in 2011.
• This update included several significant changes like auto keyword, range-based for loops, smart pointers, lambda expressions, and improved STL.
• It was aimed at making C++ more memory-safe, comfortable for programming, and better performing.

Modern C++

2011: C++11 (C++0x)

• The release of C++11 marked a major update, introducing features like lambda expressions, auto keyword, nullptr, range-based for loops, and concurrency support.

2014: C++14

• C++14 was a minor update, focusing on performance improvements and bug fixes. It introduced features like generic lambdas and variable templates. C++17 brought significant enhancements, including structured bindings, inline variables, and filesystem library support.

2017: C++17

• C++17 brought significant enhancements, including structured bindings, inline variables, and filesystem library support.

2020: C++20

• C++20 is another major update, introducing concepts, ranges, coroutines, and modules. It significantly modernized the language with new features to improve productivity and performance.

Recent and Future Developments

C++23 and Beyond

• C++23 continues the evolution, focusing on improving the language’s usability, performance, and safety.
• Future updates aim to refine existing features and introduce new capabilities, driven by the ongoing efforts of the ISO C++ committee and the C++ community.
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Key Contributions and Impact

• Object-Oriented Programming: C++ played a crucial role in popularizing object-oriented programming (OOP), which has become a dominant programming paradigm.
• Performance and Efficiency: C++ remains a preferred choice for system/software development, games, and real-time applications due to its performance and efficiency.
• Standard Library: The C++ Standard Library provides a rich set of tools and libraries that have been influential in the design of many other programming languages and libraries.

Throughout its history, C++ has evolved from a language with object-oriented features added to C, to a multi-paradigm language supporting procedural, object-oriented, and generic programming.

It has remained relevant and widely used due to its performance, use in system/software development, and its evolving nature that adapts to modern programming needs.

End of the lesson….enjoy learning

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