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From: John Ames <commodorejohn@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: C/C++ timeline (was Re: Python: A Little Trick For Every Need)
Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2026 08:06:04 -0800
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On Thu, 5 Feb 2026 14:59:15 +0000
Pancho <Pancho.Jones@protonmail.com> wrote:

> > C 1072
> > C++ 1998.
> > 
> > Stroustrup may have dreamed his compsci dreams in 79, but there are
> > just hallucinations.
> 
> Just as I dreamed being a professional C++ programmer in 1993.
> 
> I was curious and googled this, they said first release C++ 1985.

I also had to go look; it depends on how particular you want to be
about dates. K&R was standardized in '78, but C was in use long before
that; Stroustrup was experimenting with "C with classes" by '79, but
C++ wasn't standardized until '85.

Seven years, then, is a comfortable approximation, but you could argue
that the gap was either much longer or much shorter. I'd have to go
digging further to get a better notion of *A.* how long it took after
Richie's first efforts for C to be in general use, and *B.* whether C++
saw much use at all before the '85 standard.