Inside the C++ Object Model

Preface

For nearly a decade within Bell Laboratories, I labored at implementing C++. First it was on cfront, Bjarne Stroustrup’s original C++ implementation (from Release 1.1 back in 1986 through Release 3.0, made available in September 1991). Then it was on what became known internally as the Simplifier, the C++ Object Model component of the Foundation project. It was during the Simplifier’s design period that I conceived of and began working on this book.

What was the Foundation project? Under Bjarne’s leadership, a small group of us within Bell Laboratories was exploring solutions to the problems of large-scale programming using C++. The Foundation was an effort to define a new development model for the construction of large systems (again, ...