Una descripción general de la programación y C++
En 1979, Bjarne Stroustrup comenzó a trabajar en el lenguaje que con el tiempo se convertiría en C++ (pronunciado “si, más, más”). Hoy en día, C++ sigue siendo uno de los lenguajes de programación más importantes del mundo, con miles de millones de líneas de código en producción. Esto incluye muchas aplicaciones cruciales para la informática moderna tal como la conocemos.
Four general-purpose programming languages
C++ is a general-purpose programming language that was originally based on the C language. Figure 1-1 begins by presenting a chronological listing of four popular general-purpose programming languages including C++. Of these languages, C was developed first and had a commercial release in 1972. After that, C++ was developed as an extension of the C language that added the capability for object-oriented programming and had a comercial release in 1985. Since then, many other programming languages have used a syntax that’s similar to C++, including Java (first commercial release in 1996) and C# (first commercial release in 2002).
At this point, you may wonder why you should learn C++ when there are newer languages like Java and C# available. To start, C++ is still one of the fastest and most efficient languages available. So, if you’re developing a program that needs to be fast and use memory efficiently to conserve system resources, C++ is still a great choice. This is an advantage that C++ has over many other languages such as Java and C#.
Like many other modern languages, C++ is portable, which means that it works with many different operating systems and devices. Like many other object-oriented languages, C++ is ideal for developing large and complex applications. In fact, over the past 30 years, thousands of large and complex applications have been developed using C++ and billions of lines of code have been deployed. All of this adds up to a significant demand for C++ programmers in the job market, both for developing new projects and maintaining existing ones.
So, what types of applications are typically developed using C++? Due to its speed and efficiency, C++ is commonly used for the types of programming listed in this figure, including systems programming, desktop applications, mobile apps, video games, performance-critical applications, science applications, engineering applications, and embedded systems programming. In other words, C++ is commonly used for a wide range of applications, especially where speed and efficiency are critical.