TITLE: why C++

(source: comp.lang.c++)


PROBLEM: telliott@ubmail (TODD ELLIOTT)

I know it sounds like a stupid question, but why is C named 'C' in the first
place? I can understand BASIC, Pascal, Fortran, or COBOL, but 'C'?

If it was a product of demented minds of some technicians at Bell Labs, that
explains a lot. ;)


RESPONSE: Kelly Anderson

Because it was the succcessor to B. (This is not a joke)

I don't think there ever was an A, though, so the question becomes why did
they name it B? :-)


RESPONSE: Matt Young <youngm@interramp.com>

Well, then why isn't C++ named D?


RESPONSE: bs@research.att.com (Bjarne Stroustrup), 19 Apr 96

From the introductory notes of "The C++ Programming Language" (both editions):

	The name signifies the evolutionary nature of the changes from C.
	``++'' is the C increment operator. The slightly shorter name C+
	is a syntax error; it has also been used as the name of an unrelated
	language. Connoisseurs of C semantics find C++ inferior to ++C.
	The language is not called D, because it is an extension of C and
	does not attempt to remedy problems by removing features.
	For yet another interpretation of the name C++, see the appendix of
	[Orwell,1949] .

From Chapter 3 of "The Design and Evolution of C++":

	The ``C'' in C++ has a long history. Naturally, it is the name of
	the language Dennis Ritchie designed. C's immediate ancestor was
	an interpreted descendant of BCPL class B designed by Ken Thompson.
	BCPL was designed and implemented by Martin Richards from Cambridge
	University while visiting MIT in the other Cambridge. BCPL in turn
	was Basic CPL, where CPL is the name of a rather large (for its
	time) and elegant programming language developed jointly by the
	universities of Cambridge and London. Before the London people
	joined the project ``C'' stood for Cambridge. Later, ``C''
	officially stood for Combined. Unofficially, ``C'' stood for
	Christopher because Christopher Strachey was the main power
	behind CPL.

To this, I can add that I didn't even consider ``D.'' Even then, that name
had been repeatedly taken by optimists trying to produce a better C. The
other ``obvious'' name ``P.'' Its derivation B -> C -> P in BCPL was too
cute and ``P'' would indicate ``Pascal'' to many.