The C++ computer programming language has been called the swiss pocketknife of all computer programming languages and it is found on nearly every operating system in nearly every computer. There’s a reason for it. C++ is so popular because it is an object-oriented program. To run a C++ program on your computer, you must have a C++ compiler which you can download.

A compiler takes your computer program such as C++ and transfers it into what’s called “machine code.” Machine code is basically the binary system of 0s and 1s. To write a C++ program, you must have a text editor like Notepad. To become familiar with C++ you must first be comfortable with moving data and numbers around.

Once the program is compiled into machine code it must be de-bugged, edited, and then linked together to run a program.

C++ is an all-purpose programming language. It can run applications such as Napster, Adobe systems, the Ipod user interface and more. Many video games are created using C++. C++ began as the C language and was named C with Classes and renamed C++ in 1983. C, however is not always compatible with C++.

C++ is the programming language for most professional applications. Most of the software you buy today is written in C++. Rather than enforcing a single style of coding or computer language programming, C++ allows a programmer to mix and match several different types of programming such as object-oriented programming and functional programming.

C++ was written by Bjarne Stroustrup as part of his Ph.D. dissertation where he came across problems in the original C language and set about to fix them. He chose to enhance the C program with Simula-like features. Stroustrup says that his code better supports data abstraction, supports object-oriented programming and supports generic programming. He also maintains the C++ offers stability over decades.