10 C++ The COBOL of the 90s Q. Where did the names “C” and “C++” come from? A. They were grades. —Jerry Leichter It was perhaps inevitable that out of the Unix philosophy of not ever mak- ing anything easy for the user would come a language like C++. The idea of object-oriented programming dates back to Simula in the 60s, hitting the big time with Smalltalk in the early 70s. Other books can tell you how using any of dozens of object-oriented languages can make pro- grammers more productive, make code more robust, and reduce mainte- nance costs. Don’t expect to see any of these advantages in C++. That’s because C++ misses the point of what being object-oriented was all about. Instead of simplifying things, C++ sets a new world record for com- plexity. Like Unix, C++ was never designed, it mutated as one goofy mis- take after another became obvious. It’s just one big mess of afterthoughts. There is no grammar specifying the language (something practically all other languages have), so you can’t even tell when a given line of code is legitimate or not.