Written by the inventor of the language, this book is the defining text on the language that has become central to software development over the past five years. This book is based on the C++ standard now being proposed with its many new language features—templates, exceptions, namespaces, and run-time type identification, to name a few. This book presents every major C++ language feature and the standard library. It is organized around language and library facilities. However, features are presented in the context of their use. That is, the focus is on the language as the tool for design and programming rather than on the language in itself. This book demonstrates key techniques that make C++ effective and teaches the fundamental concepts necessary for mastery. Except where illustrating technicalities, examples are taken from the domain of systems software. A companion, The Annotated C++ Language Standard, presents the complete language definition together with annotations to make it more comprehensible.