Complexity measurements grow exponentially as the size of programs grow. One measurement is coupling, or much different elements (modules, data structures) interact with each other. The fewer the connections, the less complex a program is. Low coupling is highly desirable.
There have been several post-structured programming attempts to control complexity. One of these is to use software components - preconstructed software ``parts'' to avoid programming. And when you have to program, use object-oriented programming (OOP).
Bjarne Stroustrup of Bell Labs extended the C language to be capable of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), and it became popular in the 1990's as C++. There were several enhancements, but the central change was extending struct to allow it to contain functions and use inheritance. These extended structs were later renamed classes. A C++ standard was established in 1999, so there are variations in the exact dialect that is accepted by pre-standard compilers.
2004-06-29
