C++: /C'-pluhs-pluhs/ n. Designed by Bjarne Stroustrup of AT&T
Bell Labs as a successor to C. Now one of the languages of
choice, although many hackers still grumble that it is the
successor to either Algol 68 or Ada (depending on generation), and
a prime example of second-system effect. Almost anything that can
be done in any language can be done in C++, but it requires a
language lawyer to know what is and what is not legal-- the design
is _almost_ too large to hold in even hackers' heads. Much of the
cruft results from C++'s attempt to be backward compatible with C.
Stroustrup himself has said in his retrospective book "The Design
and Evolution of C++" (p. 207), "Within C++, there is a much smaller
and cleaner language struggling to get out." [Many hackers would
now add "Yes, and it's called Java" --ESR]
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