C++ Overview: History, Standards, and Compatibility

Origins and early development of C++

C++ was created by Bjarne Stroustrup at Bell Labs, beginning in 1979 with a language called “C with Classes,” an extension of the C compiler (Cpre). Early additions included classes, derived classes, strong typing, inlining, and default arguments, aiming to keep C-like efficiency while improving program organization through higher-level abstractions. In 1982, Stroustrup started designing a cleaned-up successor to “C with Classes,” initially referred to briefly as C84 before adopting the name C++. The language incorporated major object-oriented and type-safety features such as virtual functions, function and operator overloading, references, const, improved type checking, user-controlled dynamic memory allocation (new/delete), and // single-line comments. Stroustrup also built Cfront, the C++ compiler front end (1982–1983), and in 1985 released the first edition of “The C++ Programming Language,” which served as the main reference before an official standard existed.

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Etymology of the name C++

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