The Design and Evolution of C++, First Edition

3. The Birth of C++

No ties bind so strongly as the links of inheritance.

– Stephen Jay Gould

From C with Classes to C++ — Cfront, the initial implementation of C++ — virtual functions and object-oriented programming — operator overloading and references — constants — memory management — type checking — C++’s relationship to C — dynamic initialization — declaration syntax — description and evaluation of C++.

3.1 From C with Classes to C++

During 1982 it became clear to me that C with Classes was a “medium success” and would remain so until it died. I defined a medium success as something so useful that it easily paid for itself and its developer, but not so attractive and useful that it would pay for a support and development organization. Thus, ...