History of C++

C++ was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup at Bell Labs, starting in 1979. Initially named 'C with Classes,' it was designed to be a superset of the C language, adding object-oriented features like classes to the existing power and efficiency of C. The goal was to create a language that could handle large-scale software projects while retaining the low-level memory manipulation capabilities that C was famous for. The name was changed to C++ in 1983, a nod to the `++` increment operator in C, humorously suggesting its incremental improvement over C. The first commercial version was released in 1985. A key milestone in its history was the standardization process, which led to the first international standard in 1998, known as C++98. This was followed by minor updates in C++03. The language then underwent a major revolution with the release of C++11, which introduced a vast number of new features like lambda expressions, smart pointers, and range-based for loops, making the language safer, more expressive, and easier to use. This modernization trend continued with subsequent releases like C++14, C++17, and C++20, which added even more features like concepts, modules, and coroutines. Today, C++ is one of the most widely used programming languages in the world, powering high-performance applications in domains like game development, financial trading systems, operating systems, and embedded systems.