C++ is a general-purpose programming language. It was created by Bjarne Stroustrup at Bell Labs circa 1980. C++ is very similar to C (invented by Dennis Ritchie in the early 1970s). C++ is so much compatible with C that it will probably compile over 99% of C programs without changing a line of source code. Though, C++ is a lot of well-structured and safer language than C as it OOPs based.
Is C++ the best programming language?
The answer depends on the perspective and requirements. Some tasks can be done in C++, though not very quickly. For example, designing GUI screens for applications.
Other languages like Visual Basic, Python have GUI design elements built into them. Therefore, they are better suited for GUI type of task.
Some of the scripting languages that provide extra programmability to applications. Such as MS Word and even photoshop tend to be variants of Basic, not C++.
C++ is still used widely, and the most famous software have their backbone in C++.
Who uses C++?
Some of today’s most visible used systems have their critical parts written in C++.
Examples are Amadeus (airline ticketing)
- Bloomberg (financial formation),
- Amazon (Web commerce), Google (Web search)
- Facebook (social media)
Many programming languages depend on C++’s performance and reliability in their implementation. Examples include:
- Java Virtual Machines
- Javascript interpreters (e.g., Google’s V8)
- Browsers (e.g., Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s Firefox, Apple’s Safari, and Google’s Chrome)
- Application and Web frameworks (e.g., Microsoft’s .NET Web services framework).
Applications that involve local and wide area networks, user interaction, numeric, graphics, and database access highly depend on C++ language.