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C++ is a programming language that is general purpose, statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm and compiled. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises both high-level and low-level language features. Developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell Labs, C++ was originally named C with Classes, adding object oriented features, such as classes, and other enhancements to the C programming language. The language was renamed C++ in 1983,as a pun involving the increment operator.

C++ is one of the most popular programming languages and is implemented on a wide variety of hardware and operating system platforms. As an efficient compiler to native code, its application domains include systems software, application software, device drivers, embedded software, high-performance server and client applications, and entertainment software such as video games. Several groups provide both free and proprietary C++ compiler software, including the GNU Project, LLVM, Microsoft and Intel. C++ has greatly influenced many other popular programming languages, most notably C# and Java.

C++ is also used for hardware design, where the design is initially described in C++, then analyzed, architecturally constrained, and scheduled to create a register-transfer level hardware description language via high-level synthesis.