Every programmer knows that C++ is an object-oriented language, and in recent years it has managed to rank among the top programming languages. Created in 1979 by Bjarne Stroustrup, C++ has a number of features of object-oriented, imperative and general programming models.

It also has a number of other features and additional capabilities. C++ plays an important role in many modern and state-of-the-art systems, such as databases, web browsers, operating systems, and others that have used C++ in at least some part of their databases.

In this article we will present to you top 5 interesting facts about C++, presented by TechWibe.

Top 5 Curious Facts About C++ You Didn’t Know

It was originally known as “The New C”.
Did you know that computer programmer Rick Massity actually gave the name to C++? His reasoning was that the ++ in the name represented an improvement over the original C programming language.

C++ is most inspired by C. C++ is also built on the same framework, but of course, new features and capabilities have been added to the language.

Has a rich library support
The C++ language has the STL or standard template library. If you don’t know, the STL is extremely useful as it helps to quickly prepare codes when needed. It basically consists of four components namely iterators, functions, containers and algorithms.

Iterators help in dealing with a sequence of values. Functors allow to customize the operation of the associated function using the required support of the passed parameters.

Containers have classes in them to implement various data structures that are commonly used, such as vectors, lists, sets, maps, etc. Finally, the algorithms can be of different kinds, such as search, sort, etc.

A steep learning curve
Several programmers join the world of C++ or C, but they fail to keep mastering and to learn these languages well. It is mostly because they feel irked in catering to low-level programming elements, like the multi-thread data races, memory storage model, pointers, templates expansion, address alignment, and others. When these elements are not handled well, the application has a possibility of crashing. This can be pretty frustrating for a new programmer.

It powers the world
The truth is that C and C++ are everywhere. These two languages alone power more technology than we give them credit for. The kernels of as many operating systems as Android, iOS, Mac, Linux, and Windows are coded in C. In addition, modern game engines are also widely available and coded in C++ or C, such as Unreal Engine, Unity 3D, cocos2d-x, and others.

C++ has over thirty-five operators
Did you know that C++ has more than thirty-five operators. They range from comparisons to logical operations, bit handling, arithmetic, and more. Virtually any of these thirty-five operators can be overloaded for certain types.

This wide variety of operators makes C++ programming language user definitions more like built-in types.