C++ :A brief Introduction

INTRODUCTION:

C++ (pronounced cee plus plus /ˈsiː plʌs plʌs/) is a general-purpose programming language. It has imperative, object-oriented andgeneric programming features, while also providing facilities for low-level memory manipulation.

In 1998, C++ was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup at Bell Labs since 1979, as an extension of the C language as he wanted an efficient and flexible language similar to C, which also provided high-level features for program organization. C++ inherits most of C's syntax. The following is Bjarne Stroustrup's version of the Hello world program that uses the C++ Standard Library stream facility to write a message to standard output:

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Above program prints 'Hello world!'

C++ is a superset of C, and that virtually any legal C program is a legal C++ program.C++ supports a variety of programming styles. You can write in the style of Fortran, C, Smalltalk, etc., in any language. Each style can achieve its aims effectively while maintaining runtime and space efficiency.

Object-Oriented Programming

C++ fully supports object-oriented programming, including the four pillars of object-oriented development:

1. Encapsulation
2. Data hiding
3. Inheritance
4. Polymorphism

It provides a lot of other features that are given below.

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Use of C++

C++ is used by hundreds of thousands of programmers in essentially every application domain.

C++ is being highly used to write device drivers and other softwares that rely on direct manipulation of hardware under realtime constraints.

C++ is widely used for teaching and research because it is clean enough for successful teaching of basic concepts.

Anyone who has used either an Apple Macintosh or a PC running Windows has indirectly used C++ because the primary user interfaces of these systems are written in C++.