Bjarne Stroustrup
The creator of C++，academician of National Academy of Engineering, ACM and IEEE
The creator of C++, academician of National Academy of Engineering, ACM and IEEE, is known as "the most influential 20 people in the computer industry in the past 20 years". Bjarne Stroustrup received his PhD in Computer Science from Cambridge University in 1979 and joined Bell Laboratory after graduation, where he invented C++. His research fields include distributed systems, programming languages and software development tools. In 2018, he was awarded the Charles Stark Draper Prize by the National Academy of Engineering, which is known as the Nobel Prize in engineering field. He is currently the managing director of Morgan Stanley Technology Department and visiting professor of Columbia University. Representative works: C++ Programming Language, Design and Evolution of C++ Language.
Topic
* C++ as a 21st century language
By now, C++ is a language with a long history. This leads many people to overlook decades of progress and describe C++ as if today was still the second millennium where phones had to be plugged into the wall to function and most code was short, low-level, and slow. Here, I present C++ as a coherent whole where strongly-typed generic programming has a central role, where code is presented as modules, resources are never leaked, and error-handling is systematic. Code written along these lines tend to be smaller, faster, more maintainable, and more reliable that code reflecting 20th century thinking. The features I present are ISO standard C++ and shipping in major compilers. This style of C++ is a logical development of the foundational principles from the earliest days. For completeness, I will briefly mention the roots of the modern facilities presented, the key role of facilities for low-level code, and the essential role of stability/compatibility in long-term use of the language.
