History

C++ (pronounced see plus-plus) is a general-purpose, compiled, object-orientated programming language that has its roots in the C programming language. In early 1980 Bjarne Stroustrup of Bell Laboratories began developing C++. The first C++ compiler was actually written using a standard C compiler, making heavy use of C's powerful macro pre-processor. (A macro is an identifier that functions as an abbreviation for some pre-defined block of text; preprocessor software recognizes the macro and replaces it with the appropriate pre-defined block.)

Stroustrup did not name C++ formally until the end of 1983, when he published the first manual on the language. In October 1985 the language was first released in a commercial form, coinciding with the publication of Stroustrup's book The C++ Programming Language.

Throughout the 1980s C++ was constantly refined and reworked until it became a language with its own personality and quirks. It never lost sight of its roots...