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Oral History of Bjarne Stroustrup

Computer History Museum · 75.4K views · 2015-09-04 · 2:00:10

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Overview

A two-hour Computer History Museum oral history interview with Bjarne Stroustrup, conducted by Paul McJones in 2015. It covers his youth, education at Aarhus and Cambridge, his career at Bell Labs and elsewhere, and the design and evolution of C++.

On Hacker News

HN commenters cite it as a primary source for why Stroustrup created C++, including combining C and Simula and the aim of zero-cost abstractions.

Discussed on HN; no positive recommendation is recorded in this export · HN mentions 2015–2023

Topics

C, C++, Rust, Go & systems languagesTech pioneers & interviewsHistory of computing
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bjarne stroustrupc++simulabell labsoral historyzero-cost abstractions

What people said

FrankyHollywood · 2023-07 · Reference

Stroustrup once told about how he needed the best of both C and Simula, which resulted in creating C++. Full interview: [VIDEO]

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labrador · 2022-10 · Reference

In "Oral History of Bjarne Stroustrup" Bjarne describes his goal for C++, which was abstractions with zero runtime cost : [VIDEO] I understand Rust is fast, but how does it do with complex abstractions?

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pjmlp · 2017-03 · Reference

It is, after being forced to use BCPL to finish his PhD and being used to languages like Simula, Bjarne swore he wouldn't be doing that again. Hence why he started to design C with Classes after getting his job at AT&T. [VIDEO] Around 29:00.

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Sources

Video by Computer History Museum, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

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