A Brief History of C/C++

Prof. David Bernstein
James Madison University

Computer Science Department

bernstdh@jmu.edu

Some "Ancient" History

Mid 1960s:
- Martin Richards developed the typeless language BCPL (Basic Combined Progamming Language) as a simplification of CPL
Late 1960s and early 1970s:
- Ken Thompson developed the typeless language B (based on BCPL)
- B was used to develop the early versions of the UNIX operating system on the DEC PDP-7
1971:
- Dennis Ritchie began to extend B (most notably, adding a character type)
- He called the extended language NB (for "new B" and, perhaps, the Latin nota bene)

Some "Ancient" History (cont.)

Early 1970s:
- Dennis Ritchie started working on a language called C with more types and with type composition (similar to that in Algol)
- The name is either a progression through the alphabet or through the letters in BCPL (Ritchie himself won't say)
- C was used to write the UNIX kernel for the PDP-11
1977-1978:
- C underwent extensive modifications
- The book The C Programming Language was written by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie
1983:
- ANSI began the process of standardizing C
- The standard was accepted by ISO in 1990 and is known as either C89 (when it was completed) or C90 (when it was ratified)

Some "Ancient" History (cont.)

1980:
- Bjarne Stroustrup begain working on what he called "C-with-classes"
- He wanted to add the facilities for object-oriented programming contained in the SIMULA programming language to C
1983:
- The language was re-designed and re-named C++
- Originally, C++ source code had to be "pre-compiled" (the pre-compiler converted C++ constructs to plain C)
Mid to Late 1980s:
- The first commercial version of C++ was released in 1985
- In 1989 ISO began the standardization process (completed in 1998)

Some "Less Ancient" History