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Over the years, computer programs have become larger and more complex. Even though C is an excellent programming language, it has its limits. In C, once a program exceeds from thousands lines of code, it becomes so complex that it is difficult to maintain as a totality. The purpose of C++ is to allow this barrier to be broken. The essence of C++ is to allow the programmer to comprehend and manage larger, more complex programs.
C++ began as an expanded version of C. The C++ were first invented by Bjarne Stroustrup in 1979 at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey. This new language was initially called "C with Classes".
Stroustrup states that some of C++'s object-oriented features were inspired by another object-oriented language called Simula. Therefore, C++ represents the blending of two powerful programming languages, C and Simula.
In 1983, it was renamed from C with Classes to C++ (++ being the increment operator in C). New features were added including virtual functions, function name and operator overloading, references, constants, dynamic memory allocation (new/delete), improved type checking, and BCPL style single-line comments with two forward slashes (//), as well as the development of a proper compiler for C++, Cfront.
In 1985, the first edition of The C++ Programming Language was released, which became the definitive reference for the language, as there was not yet an official standard. The first commercial implementation of C++ was released in October of the same year.
In 1989 C++ 2.0 was released followed by the updated second edition of The C++ Programming Language in 1991. New features in 2.0 included multiple inheritance, abstract classes, static member functions, const member functions, and protected members.
In 1990, The Annotated C++ Reference Manual was published. This work became the basis for the future standard.
Later, new feature included templates, exceptions, namespaces, new casts, and a boolean type.