C++ is a general purpose, multi-paradigm, statically typed programming language developed in 1979 at Bell Labs by Bjarne Stroustrup. Originally named "C with Classes", the language was changed to "C++" in late 1983. The language was invented to add facilities for better type checking, data abstraction, and object-oriented programming to the C programming language. Today, C++ is standardized by ISO. The most recent standard version of C++ is C++11, approved by ISO on 12 August 2011, replacing C++03.

C++ Standard Library

Main article: C++ Standard Library

The C++ Standard Library is a collection of classes and functions that accompanies the core language which is part of the C++ standard. The standard library provides generic containers, utility functions to manipulate them, generic streams for input/output processing, and various other commonly desired services. The standard library is expected to be provided by any standards conforming implementation of the C++ language.