Subject

[Walter Bright]

On 8/7/2019 4:33 AM, Paulo Pinto wrote:
>> Not only that, Zortech C++ is the reason C++ itself reached the tipping point 
>> and became mainstream.
> Sorry to say it like this, but Zortech wasn't relevant in Europe, if at all.
> 
> I got introduced to C++ via Turbo C++ 1.0 and it was all Borland, Microsoft and 
> Metrowerks from there on.

That came years afterwards. The success of Zortech C++ motivated Borland to drop 
their project of adding OOP extensions to C and go with C++. (I know the people 
involved.) The success of Borland C++ motivated Microsoft similarly (I heard at 
the time that MS was also developing their own OOP C language, but was never 
able to get confirmation).

But there is little doubt the sharp upward tilt of C++ happened with the 
introduction of Zortech C++. ZTC++ was on DOS, where 90% of the programming at 
the time happened.

Before ZTC++, C++ was a curiosity on unix platforms that was battling 
neck-and-neck with Objective C. (The comp.lang.c++ and comp.lang.objectivec 
newsgroups had about the same traffic volume.) After ZTC++ appeared, C++ boomed 
and ObjC tanked (and was rescued from oblivion by Apple).