What Does C Stand for in C++

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Programming: WTH does "C" stand for?

• Thread starter geno
• Start date Feb 15, 2002

• #2

because it was the sucessor to B

seriously....

Oct 9, 1999

21,000

109

106

• #3

Yep, that's the reason. It followed B.

• #5

They should have named it P.I.N.A.P.L. As in PINAPL Is Not A Programming Language.

Gotta love those recursive titles

• #6

genocide

Read this link and it should explain it. It started as BCPL (basic combined programming language), which was then developed into B and then evolved to C.

• #7

<< They should have named it P.I.N.A.P.L. As in PINAPL Is Not A Programming Language.
Gotta love those recursive titles >>

Ha!

• #8

<< genocide

Read this link and it should explain it. It started as BCPL (basic combined programming language), which was then developed into B and then evolved to C.

>>

So why did it then go to C+ and C++ instead of D and E?

• #9

++ in C means to add one to the current value.
C++ would be the next one.

• #10

<<

<< genocide

Read this link and it should explain it. It started as BCPL (basic combined programming language), which was then developed into B and then evolved to C.

>>

So why did it then go to C+ and C++ instead of D and E?

>>

I dont think that there was a C+ and the reason that it is C++ as opposed to D and E is (i think) because C++ is C with objects.
(those who want to argue that C++ isnt true OO shut up for the sake of simplicity )

• #11

on what grounds could you argue that C++ is not OO?

• #12

<< on what grounds could you argue that C++ is not OO? >>

I was never quite sure myself, but I've spoken with several java zealots who claim that C++ isn't true OO, but more like a bastardisation. I'll have to ask them next time I speak to them

• #13

ah, java zealots. That explains everything.

C++ does not require everything to be an object.

• #14

According to the following link, C++ started as "C with Classes" and was an extension of C.

<< By 1982, Stroustrup considered that C with Classes "was a medium success and would remain so until it died." C with Classes was popular, but not popular enough to stand on its own. Stroustrup saw two choices: he could give up the project altogether and force users to find support somewhere else, or he could build a new and better language that would support enough users to pay for support and development. Unlike some folks we know, Stroustrup did not consider the third choice of increasing user population through marketing hype. >>

<< Stroustrup decided to give up the Cpre preprocessor and improve his new language with conventional compiler technology. He also got a "polite request from management" that he also get a new name for his language. The problem was that people had taken to calling C with Classes "new" C and sometimes just plain C, while "real" C was being called "plain" C and "old" C. I imagine guys like Kernighan and Ritchie were a little annoyed by C being called "plain" and "old." >>

<< On the question of a name, Stroustrup tried "C84" for a while. But the problem with that was that C itself was working toward standardization and might then add the year to its name. So "real" C might become C86 so "new" C would then become "old" C and "real" C would be "new" C and... Well, you get the idea. C84 was just not a good name. Stroustrup began asking the C with Classes community for names and a guy named Rick Mascitti suggested C++. The plus-plus part is a nice touch because in C the plus-plus signifies an increment or successor. The C++ name was first used in December, 1983 and has stuck. >>

link

• #15

There was also an extension to B called NB (New B).

<< In 1971 Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs extended the B language (by adding types) into what he called NB, for "New B". Ritchie credits some of his changes to language constructs found in Algol68, although he states "although it [the type scheme], perhaps, did not emerge in a form that Algol's adherents would approve of" After restructuring the language and rewriting the compiler for B, Ritchie gave his new language a name: "C". >>

link

• #16

<<

<< on what grounds could you argue that C++ is not OO? >>

I was never quite sure myself, but I've spoken with several java zealots who claim that C++ isn't true OO, but more like a bastardisation. I'll have to ask them next time I speak to them

>>

i see, so kind of like americans who think the english that the english speak is "messed up".

• #18

Java zealots have no place talking smack to true programmers.

• #19

<< Java zealots have no place talking smack to true programmers. >>

here here

• #20

Those old Unix guys were as terse as possible because they sometimes had to send commands over a slow, clunky old teletype, memory was small, and they didn't want to waste time by typing any more than they absolutely had to. Plus, it's fun.

ViRGE

Elite Member, Moderator Emeritus

Oct 9, 1999

31,516

165

106

• #21

<<

<< Java zealots have no place talking smack to true programmers. >>

here here

>>

I'll second that.

• #22

So what's with C# then?

• #23

<< So what's with C# then? >>

D flat

• #24

<< So what's with C# then? >>

Microsoft.

• #25

C# is language that borrows heavily from java, but still has pointer like c++. It also have the ability to make gui apps with the ease of vb.

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What Does C Stand for in C++

Source: https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/programming-wth-does-c-stand-for.734404/

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