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C++ /C'-pluhs-pluhs/ n.
Designed by Bjarne Stroustrup of AT&T Bell Labs as a successor to [C]. Now one of the [languages of choice], although many hackers still grumble that it is the successor to either Algol 68 or [Ada] (depending on generation), and a prime example of [second-system effect]. Almost anything that can be done in any language can be done in C++, but it requires a [language lawyer] to know what is and what is not legal-- the design is almost too large to hold in even hackers' heads. Much of the [cruft] results from C++'s attempt to be backward compatible with C. Stroustrup himself has said in his retrospective book "The Design and Evolution of C++" (p. 207), "Within C++, there is a much smaller and cleaner language struggling to get out." [Many hackers would now add "Yes, and it's called [Java]" --ESR]
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