Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!nntp.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: John Ames Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc Subject: Re: C/C++ timeline (was Re: Python: A Little Trick For Every Need) Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2026 09:57:45 -0800 Organization: A place where nothing fits quite right Lines: 25 Message-ID: <20260205095745.0000319c@gmail.com> References: <9hlumk1lodkjlm9a6egbo2fa79f85v6mad@4ax.com> <10lqdk2$n03u$1@dont-email.me> <10lrt1t$16vf1$1@dont-email.me> <-EOdnRUZmNTqQx_0nZ2dnZfqn_qdnZ2d@giganews.com> <10lvc6a$2a0lm$4@dont-email.me> <10lvt12$2g653$1@dont-email.me> <10m0915$2ka88$5@dont-email.me> <10m0fnd$2n7r1$3@dont-email.me> <10m25v7$36k4g$3@dont-email.me> <10m2855$38cir$2@dont-email.me> <10m2b84$30icq$1@dont-email.me> <20260205080604.00002be0@gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Injection-Date: Thu, 05 Feb 2026 17:57:49 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="20d3c76871ced29ae6d151c49b85c248"; logging-data="3388793"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX19I9pLXMMfURAYfUs/eRyaDRgxbPYJJTp4=" Cancel-Lock: sha1:KDNPJhwPbBAoQTVA/5cJTU4x/6A= X-Newsreader: Claws Mail 4.3.0 (GTK 3.24.42; x86_64-w64-mingw32) Xref: csiph.com comp.os.linux.misc:81781 On 5 Feb 2026 17:33:10 GMT rbowman wrote: > > 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. > > The real problem was 'The C++ Programming Language' in 1985 was a > reference for Stroustrup's use of the language, not a standard. If > you can find a 1st or 2nd edition it really is 'C with Classes' more > than what the language became. True, but then that's also true (to a lesser extent) of C - certainly you won't find C23 lambdas in K&R! I'm more curious about the point at which people besides the creators were using it for stuff. DMR created C as a systems language for Unix, but it wasn't the first HLL on that system and I don't know how long it took to catch on with the rest of the Bell Labs crowd, let alone the world at large; C++ post-"C with classes" existed by the mid-'80s, but OOP didn't become a big fad 'til a good few years into the '90s and I don't know how much use it ever saw before that point.