# A brief history of C/C++ programming languages

DevFeed: [A brief history of C/C++ programming languages](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/a-brief-history-of-c-c-programming-languages-29400.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://lemire.me/blog/2026/04/09/a-brief-history-of-c-c-programming-languages/>)

Author: Daniel Lemire

Published: 2026-04-09T14:58:53Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Daniel Lemire](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/daniel-lemire.md>)

Topics: [C](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/c.md>), [C++](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/c-plus-plus.md>), [Programming](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/programming.md>), [Java](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/java.md>), [C#](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/csharp.md>), [Fortran](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/fortran.md>), [Go Language](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/go-language.md>), [JavaScript](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/javascript.md>), [Python](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/python.md>)

Tags: [c-c-plus-plus](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/c-c-plus-plus.md>), [compilation](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/compilation.md>), [garbage-collection](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/garbage-collection.md>), [go](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/go.md>), [history](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/history.md>), [languages](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/languages.md>), [memory](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/memory.md>), [programming](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/programming.md>), [programming-languages](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/programming-languages.md>)

## AI overview

This article presents a brief history of C and C++, explaining how C emerged for low-level systems programming and how C++ added object-oriented, generic, and compile-time metaprogramming features. It then contrasts their portability challenges with Java and discusses JavaScript, Python, C#, and Go. The supplied text ends mid-sentence.

## Source excerpt

Initially, we had languages like Fortran (1957), Pascal (1970), and C (1972). Fortran was designed for number crunching and scientific computing. Pascal was restrictive with respect to low-level access (it was deliberately "safe", as meant for teaching structured programming). So C won out as a language that allowed low-level/unsafe programming (pointer arithmetic, direct memory access) ... Continue reading A brief history of C/C++ programming languages