An extension of the C programming language is the general-purpose language C++. It was originally made available for purchase in 1985 after being created by Bjarne Stroustrup in 1983 at Bell Laboratories. The goal of C++’s original design was to improve support for object-oriented programming by extending the C language.

The development and evolution of C++ throughout the years make for an intriguing look at its history. We shall thoroughly examine the development of C++ programming in this essay, from its early stages to its current position as a popular programming language.

Bjarne Stroustrup worked on a project at Bell Labs in the early 1980s that required writing software in C for a UNIX-based operating system. He discovered that C lacked the functionality he needed to enable the intricate software he was trying to create, so he started looking into ways to expand the language.

Stroustrup started developing an extension of C that would allow features like classes, inheritance, virtual functions, and operator overloading. “C with Classes” was the name he gave to this new language.

The initial iteration of the UNIX-based operating system was created in 1983 using the first version of C with Classes. After changing its name to “C++,” the language saw its first commercial release in 1985.

Several of the features that are now regarded as standard were not yet available when C++ was first introduced because the language was still in its early stages of development. But the language was already gaining acceptance, and more and more programmers were using it.

Stroustrup published “The C++ Programming Language” in 1989, and it quickly rose to the status of the language’s standard reference. This book helped to establish C++ as a respectable programming language by giving a thorough overview of the language.

The development of C++ accelerated in the early 1990s, and the language gained a lot of new capabilities. They included namespaces, templates, and exceptions, which strengthened and facilitated the use of the language.

The ISO started the process of standardizing C++ in the middle of the 1990s. For the language to be utilized and applied, a set of rules and regulations had to be established.

The 1995 release of the language served as the foundation for the initial C++ standard, which was published in 1998. This standard gave all C++ compilers a common set of features and specifications to adhere to, assisting in making C++ programs portable and platform-neutral.

The C++ standard was updated after its initial publication in 2003, 2011, 2014, and 2017. The language became increasingly robust and user-friendly with each iteration of the standard by adding new capabilities and enhancing those that already existed.

One of the most popular programming languages in use today is C++. Software for a variety of applications, such as operating systems, games, databases, and scientific simulations, is created using it.

Powerful and adaptable, C++ is a language that keeps getting better and better. The language’s most recent version, C++20, was published in 2020 and includes a number of enhancements and new capabilities.

C++ has its share of difficulties despite its popularity. Writing code that is effective and simple to understand can be difficult due to the language’s complexity and difficulty in learning.