C++ is a general purpose programming language that is considered a mid-level language due to its leniency towards both high-level and low-level functionalities. In 1979, an employee of Bell Labs, Dr. Bjarne Stroustrup, developed C++ as an improvement on the existing C programming language, a result of an idea he had while programming for his Ph.D. thesis. Dr. Bjarne Stroustrup originally called his enhancement “C with classes”; it was renamed to C++ in 1983.

The standards used by C++ were officially sanctioned as ISO/IEC 14882:1998, of which 2003 is the most current. An underground version of the standard is being developed to replace ISO/IEC 14882, which is informally known as C++0x. C++ is used worldwide by computer programming students creating their “Hello, World” programs and coding gurus creating the most sophisticated software for FORTUNE 500 businesses.

C++ is a great choice for so many different purposes because it supports various programming styles, it avoids having features that make it platform dependent or that are not general purpose, and it does not incur overhead for features that are not used (resulting in slimmer and faster programs).

However, there have been problems surrounding the use of C++ since its birth. Until recently, making a C++ compiler version that is standards compliant was proving very difficult because the different compilers used different levels of compliance with the standard. Post 1998 releases of popular C++ compilers have conformed to support the 1998 C++ standard, eliminating most of that problem. Other critics raise the point that C is its parent language; therefore C++ inherits the remarks targeted at its progenitor. One thing is for certain, for being such a heavy hitter for such a new appearance, C++ is going to be around for a long time to come.