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C++

Language type:

O - Object-oriented

Description:

C++ is a fairly complicated object-oriented language derived from C. The syntax of C++ is a lot like C, with various extensions and extra keywords needed to support classes, interitance and other OO features. C++ was originally developed as an extension to C, but quickly evolved into its language. Despite some of the flaws it has inherited from C, C++ is a very popular language for application development on Unix systems and PCs.
The C++ programming language offers a very broad range of OOP features: multiple inheritance, strong typing, dynamic memory management, templates (generics), polymorphism, exception handling, and overloading. Some newer C++ systems also offer run-time type identification and separate namespaces.
C++ also supports the usual features expected of an application language: a variety of data types including strings, arrays and structures, full I/O facilities, data pointers and type conversion. The C++ Standard Template Library (STL) offers a set of collection and abstract data type facilities.
Because it is derived from C, C++ has a number of features that support unsafe and defective software. The more recent C++ standards do support safe casts, but this feature is not yet universally available or employed. Also, C++ has dynamic memory allocation, but does not have garbage collection; this allows programs to mis-use and leak memory. C++ also supports dangerous raw memory pointers and pointer arithmetic. These low-level facilities are useful in some situations, but can increase the time needed for software development.
Efforts at unifying the C++ language were begun in 1989. C++ was finally standardized by the ISO and ANSI in November, 1997.
Information on C++ is widely available on the WWW, but language has no official home on the Web. Many C++ implementations exist, some of them follow the old tradition of translating C++ into C, while others are native compilers. A few free C++ compilers exist, the most notable of which is the GNU C/C++ compiler, GCC.

Origin:

Bjarne Stoustrup, AT&T Bell Labs, 1982-85.

See Also:

C    Objective-C    Ada    Eiffel   

Remarks:

C++ is one of the most popular programming languages available today; in 1997 it was estimated that 1.5 million people knew how to write C++ code. The language is popular for several reasons:
• it is pragmatic
• it is powerful
• it resembles C which was also very popular
• it is used to write system and application programs for UNIX and MS-Windows,
• good compilers for it are available both for free and commercially
• there are plenty of good books about it available

C++ is one of the most mature and certainly the most widely-implemented object-oriented language. Even so, it is missing some features that are considered obligatory in a new OOP language design: concurrency, persistence, automatic garbage collection, and reflection. In exchange for these deficiencies, C++ gives some things that system programmers especially like: determinism and control. Because very little need happen behind the scenes in C++ programs, they have low overhead and good performance.
C++ has a number of notable features that make it powerful, but which make it easy to write undecipherable unmaintainable programs. First, it supports operator overloading for almost every operator in the language, include [] and () and and ->. Second, it support raw pointers. Third, it supports both implicit and explicit type conversions, both built-in and programmer-defined. Fourth, it supports the C macro preprocessor. Fifth, it allows the programmer to control the degree of data hiding enforced by object classes. Taken together, these features offer the programmer the ability to do great things, and but the potential for writing really awful code [Note: this is not theoretical -- I've personally used and misused all of these features.]
A wide variety of add-on libraries and utilities for C++ developers are available. Good compilers are available for all platforms.

Links:

C++ Report magazine

The ISO/ANSI C++ Standard

Ask the C++ Pro

C++ FAQ lists

Yahoo! C/C++ resources

Date:

Last updated 6/30/2000

Sample code:

// This is just a placehold until I write a 
// better example.

#include <iostream.h>
#include <String.h>
 
main(int argc, char *argv[]) 
{
        String *s1;
        s1 = new String("Hello World!");
        cout << *s1 << endl << "Length is:" << s1->length() << endl;
}

Descriptions in this dictionary are ©1997-99 Neal Ziring. Some examples copyright of their respective authors. Some technologies and languages are trademarked. Permission to copy descriptions is granted as long as authorship credit is preserved.

Comments on this dictionary, corrections and suggestions, are all welcome. Please use email, the address is ziring@home.com