In The Beginning

The C language was created at ATT Bell Labs during the 1970's by Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie.

• C was created to write the Unix operating system.
• Intended to replace assembly language.
• As such, it is very low level. Tends to expose details of the hardware.
• Adds a minimum of overhead. Used when execution speed is important.

The C language is small, and it produces efficient object programs. This makes it well-suited for for small and slow computers.

• Unix was written for a minicomputer, the smallest sort of machine available at the time.
• C was very well-suited for the original PCs.
• Very important for embedded systems.

C is widely used for system software, both operating systems and networking servers. It is also still important on the desktop, though it is just one of many there.

The New Class

In 1979, Bjarne Stroustrup at Bell Labs was studying the problem of partitioning the Unix kernel code in order to build a distributed system. Having previous experience with the class construct, he developed a tool to add classes to C to express the modular structure of the code he was studying. This effort eventually grew into a new programming language.

• Originally: C++ meant C + classes.
• Over time, much more than that was added.
• C and C++ are separate languages, with C (mostly) a subset of C++.
• C++ is designed to be compatible, so a C program can be compiled under a C++ compiler with minimal changes.
• Plain C is still widely used, particularly for system software (both the OS and networking servers), and for embedded systems where small size is essential

California Does Its Own Thing

Java was created in the 1990s, originally for use in embedded systems. James Gosling is usually given as the primary designer, though others were were involved.

• Largely a cleaned-up version of C++.
• Discarded compatibility with C, and most of C's older constructs.
• Fairly pure implementation of the OO paradigm.
• Portability is a primary goal, not run-time efficiency.
• Similar syntax to C++.
• Some rather subtle semantic differences.

Speaking Generically

The idea of generic programming is to build a data structure without knowing all of the types, so that the code can then be reused with any or many data types. Many languages support generic programming in some form, including Java generics and C++ templates.

• Generics were not part of the original C++ design, but were added later.
• They were part of the first official standard, in 1998.
• Also included was the Standard Template Library, which used templates to provide a nice set of generic data structures.

And Now

The C++ standard continues to be updated. The latest standard is C++17. It includes accumulated improvements such as: improvements as:

• Language support for threading.
• Anonymous functions.
• Smart pointers which provide a form of automatic storage management.
• And much more.

Environment

C++ is a text-oriented language. It has no standard Graphical User Interface library. A C program types to the console and reads data from the keyboard. No one had heard of a GUI. The user of a minicomputer typed text commands on a console or terminal device, and read responses typed by the computer.

C++ is still a text-based language. The original C had a very good I/O system for printing and other features for using this environment well. It is very good at flinging text around. C++ is even better.

So What Will We Do?

This class is primarily focused on C++, following the later standards. As we go, we'll also mention differences between C and C++.