Bjarne Stroustrup is a well-known personality in the world of computer science. He is a Danish computer scientist born in the year 1950. He is best known for creating and developing the C++ language which is widely in use today. His remarkable work in designing and implementing C++ which supports object oriented programming has been acknowledged widely.

Bjarne Stroustrup

Birth and Education of Bjarne Stroustrup

Stroustrup was born in Aarhus, Denmark on 30 October, 1950. He joined the University of Aarhus, Denmark from where he received his master’s degree in computer science as well as in mathematics in the year 1975. After that, he received his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Cambridge, England in the year 1979. During his Ph.D., David Wheeler advised him on his thesis.

Career graph of Bjarne Stroustrup

Dr. Stroustrup joined Bell Labs’ Computer Science Research Center in Murray Hill, New Jersey after completing his graduation. He served as the Head of AT&T Labs’ Large-Scale Programming Research Department for almost seven years, starting from 1995 till 2002.

Currently, he is the Chair Professor (in Computer Science) of College of Engineering at Texas A&M University. He is also associated with AT&T Labs – Research and is a member of its Information and Systems Software Research Lab. He also works as a visiting faculty in the Computer Science Department of Columbia University. He is also working as a noble doctor for ITMO University since the year 2013.

Stroustrup was elected as the member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2004. He is also a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) which is an international learned society for internet, and of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) which is the world’s largest association of technical professionals.

Bjarne Stoustrup

C++ Development by Bjarne Stroustrup

As far as C++ programming language is concerned, Stroustrup started development of C++ from the year 1978. C++ was then called “C with Classes”.

In Dr. Stroustrup’s own words “invented C++, wrote its early definitions, and produced its first implementation… chose and formulated the design criteria for C++, designed all its major facilities, and was responsible for the processing of extension proposals in the C++ standards committee.”

Bjarne Stroustrup has mastered the use of object-oriented and generic programming techniques using C++ as his tool. He has applied them in areas like general systems programming, switching, simulation, graphics, user-interfaces, embedded systems, and scientific computation where efficiency is a must. The influence of C++ is clearly visible as languages including C, C#, Java, and Fortran99 and systems including COM and CORBA provide features pioneered for mainstream use by C++. Stroustrup has also written a textbook for C++ language called “The C++ Programming Language” which was first published in 1985.
For his invention of C++, Bjarne Stroustrup was made a Fellow of the Computer History Museum in 2015.

Publications

The following books are included in the publications written or co-written by Stroustrup:

  • A Tour of C++by Bjarne Stroustrup – Addison-Wesley Professional, 2013. Its ISBN is 978-0321958310.
  • Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++by Bjarne Stroustrup – Addison-Wesley Professional; 1st edition (29 December 2008); Its ISBN is 0-321-54372-6.
  • The C++ Programming Languageby Bjarne Stroustrup – Addison-Wesley Pub Co; 4th edition (23 May 2013); Its ISBN is 0-321-563840.
  • The Design and Evolution of C++by Bjarne Stroustrup – Addison-Wesley Pub Co; 1st edition (29 March 1994); Its ISBN is 0-201-54330-3.
  • The Annotated C++ Reference Manualby Margaret A. Ellis & Bjarne Stroustrup – Addison-Wesley Pub Co; (1 January 1990); Its ISBN is 0-201-51459-1. This book received Dr. Dobb’s “Jolt Cola” award for excellence in technical documentation

Awards

Bjarne Stroustrup has been awarded with William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement by Sigma Xi (the scientific research society). In 2004, he received Computer Entrepreneur Award by IEEE Computer Society “For pioneering the development and commercialization of industrial-strength, object-oriented programming technologies and the profound changes they fostered in business and industry”. He has also won the 1993 ACM Grace Murray Hopper award.