A history of C++ 1979–1991
The work
| Authors | Bjarne Stroustrup |
|---|---|
| Editors | |
| Type | incollection |
| Year | 1996 |
| Citekey | stroustrup1996history |
Where it appeared
| Published in | History of Programming Languages---II |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Association for Computing Machinery |
| Pages | 699--754 |
Abstract
This paper outlines the history of the C++ programming language. The emphasis is on the ideas, constraints, and people that shaped the language, rather than the minutiae of language features. Key design decisions relating to language features are discussed, but the focus is on the overall design goals and practical constraints. The evolution of C++ is traced from C with Classes to the current ANSI and ISO standards work and the explosion of use, interest, commercial activity, compilers, tools, environments, and libraries.
A copy is held
pdf, 4.6 MB. Not published — it may be under copyright. The facts and links here are.
How it got here
| How it got here | agent via bibtex |
|---|---|
| Added | 2026-08-05 00:00 UTC |
| Approved by | a person 2026-08-16 16:13 UTC |
Filed under
Cite it as
@incollection{stroustrup1996history,
title = {A history of C++ 1979–1991},
author = {Bjarne Stroustrup},
year = {1996},
booktitle = {History of Programming Languages---II},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
pages = {699--754},
}
This record lives at https://refs.drheap.org/stroustrup1996history/ and will keep doing so.