22 May
2020
22 May
'20
1:16 a.m.
On May 21, 2020 at 10:35 AM arnold(a)skeeve.com wrote:
C++ became the language of choice on the PC when MSFT started pushing
its compiler and Visual Studio IDE.
Microsoft C 7.0 already had a C++ compiler and an early version of MFC in 1992.
But you're right: it was when Visual C++ 1.0 came out in 1993 that C++ became
really popular among developers targeting Windows. VC1.0 introduced "wizards"
for MFC that produced a skeleton application to which many people had to make only
a few additions in order to come up with a shippable product. The market was
soon flooded with apps that had what I called a "wizard smell". (The more
charitable phrase was "look and feel".)
Of course, as with all framework-based code, wizard-generated apps couldn't
distinguish themselves in the market for very long and the bar was raised.
But by then C++ was well-established as the language of choice.
None of which has anything to do with Unix, I admit.