Bjarne Stroustrup

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Lore & Background

Stroustrup was born on 30 December 1950 in Aarhus, Denmark, into a working-class family and attended local schools. He studied at Aarhus University from 1969 to 1975, earning a Candidatus Scientiarum in mathematics with computer science, where he learned object-oriented programming from Kristen Nygaard. He received his PhD in computer science from the University of Cambridge in 1979, with research on distributed computing supervised by David Wheeler. In 1979, Stroustrup began his career at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey, where he started developing C++ (initially called 'C with Classes'). He led the Large-scale Programming Research department at Bell Labs until late 2002, and later held professorships at Texas A&M University and Columbia University, as well as a role at Morgan Stanley. Since July 2022, he has been a full professor at Columbia University. Stroustrup's key contributions to C++ include a static type system, value and reference semantics, resource management via RAII, support for object-oriented and generic programming, compile-time programming, and concurrency support. He published the textbook 'The C++ Programming Language' in 1985 and has been a founding member of the C++ standards committee since 1989.

Reader's Guide

Bjarne Stroustrup's significance lies in his creation and continued evolution of the C++ programming language, which has become one of the most influential languages in computing history. His design principles, documented in his 1994 book 'The Design and Evolution of C++', emphasized efficiency, flexibility, and real-world applicability. C++ has been widely adopted in systems programming, game development, finance, and scientific computing, enabling both high-performance and complex software systems. Stroustrup's work on object-oriented and generic programming brought these paradigms into mainstream use, as recognized by his 2018 IEEE Computer Pioneer Award. His leadership in the C++ standards committee for 24 years ensured the language's steady evolution while maintaining backward compatibility. The language's impact is reflected in his numerous honors, including the 2018 Charles Stark Draper Prize from the US National Academy of Engineering and the 2017 Faraday Medal. Stroustrup's textbooks and academic articles have educated generations of programmers, and his ongoing role as a professor at Columbia University continues to influence the field.

Did You Know?

• Stroustrup learned object-oriented programming from Kristen Nygaard, one of its inventors, who frequently visited Aarhus University.
• The first C++ compiler and foundation libraries were available for non-commercial use for a shipping fee of US$75.
• Stroustrup chaired the C++ Evolution Working Group for 24 years, handling proposals for language extensions.
• He was the first computer scientist ever to receive the William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement from Sigma Xi in 2005.
• Stroustrup's books have been translated into 21 languages.

Roots in Aarhus and the Seeds of a Programming Mind

Bjarne Stroustrup entered the world on 30 December 1950 in Aarhus, Denmark, into a working-class family that sent him through the city's local schools. His academic path led him to Aarhus University between 1969 and 1975, where he earned a Candidatus Scientiarum degree combining mathematics and computer science. During those formative years his intellectual curiosity gravitated toward microprogramming and machine architecture—areas that would later inform his deep understanding of how software interfaces with hardware. A pivotal influence came from Kristen Nygaard, one of the original inventors of object-oriented programming, who made regular visits to Aarhus. Through Nygaard's presence, a young Stroustrup absorbed the foundational ideas of OOP firsthand, long before the paradigm became mainstream. He then crossed the channel to the University of Cambridge, completing a doctoral degree in computer science in 1979 under the supervision of David Wheeler, with his research focused on distributed computing. This blend of Danish pragmatism, British academic rigor, and early exposure to object-oriented thinking set the stage for everything that followed.

Forging C++: From 'C with Classes' to a Global Standard

In 1979, while working at Bell Labs' Computer Science Research Center in Murray Hill, New Jersey, Stroustrup began what he himself described as inventing C++, writing its earliest definitions, and producing the first working implementation. The project started under the modest name "C with Classes" and was made generally available to the world in 1985. In an era before widespread internet access, non-commercial users could obtain the compiler source and foundation libraries for a shipping fee of seventy-five dollars. That same year he published The C++ Programming Language, a textbook that became a cornerstone for developers. Stroustrup shaped every major technical pillar of the language: a unified static type system, value and reference semantics, resource management through RAII, object-oriented features rooted in the Simula model, generic programming via templates, compile-time metaprogramming, direct hardware access, and concurrency support. He documented his design philosophy in The Design and Evolution of C++ (1994) and contributed three papers to ACM's History of Programming Languages conferences. As a founding member of the standards committee—ANSI from 1989, ISO from 1991—he chaired the Evolution Working Group for twenty-four years, steering the language's extension proposals.

A Wandering Academic: From Bell Labs to Columbia

After leading Bell Labs' Large-scale Programming Research department from its creation until late 2002, Stroustrup earned the titles of Bell Labs Fellow in 1993 and AT&T Fellow in 1996. His next chapter took him to Texas A&M University, where from 2002 to 2014 he held the College of Engineering Chair Professorship in Computer Science and was elevated to University Distinguished Professor in 2011. In January 2014 he stepped into the corporate world, joining Morgan Stanley in New York City as a technical fellow and managing director within its technology division. Simultaneously, he served as a visiting professor of computer science at Columbia University. That arrangement lasted until April 2022, when he transitioned to a full professorship at Columbia—a role he has held since July 2022. Alongside his academic positions, Stroustrup has maintained an active advisory role: since 2021 he has served as Technical Advisor to Metaspex, a company developing a fresh C++-based approach for business applications.

A Career Measured in Medals and Manuscripts

The recognition Stroustrup has received reads like a roll call of computing's highest honors. In 1993 the ACM presented him with the Grace Murray Hopper Award for laying C++'s foundations. In 2005 he became the first computer scientist to receive Sigma Xi's William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement. The 2010s brought a cascade of distinctions: Aarhus University's Rigmor og Carl Holst-Knudsens Videnskabspris in 2010, the IET's Faraday Medal in 2017, and in 2018 both the National Academy of Engineering's Charles Stark Draper Prize and the IEEE Computer Society's Computer Pioneer Award, the latter citing his role in bringing object-oriented and generic programming to the mainstream. His fellowships include membership in the National Academy of Engineering (2004), the ACM (1994), the IEEE (1994), and the Computer History Museum (2015). He was named Honorary Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge, in 2017, and received an honorary doctorate from Spain's University Carlos III in 2019. On the publication front, his authored and co-authored works span five major books—The C++ Programming Language in four editions, The Design and Evolution of C++, The Annotated C++ Reference Manual, Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++, and A Tour of C++ in three editions—translated into 21 languages.