"C++ is an exceptional object-oriented language":

in allowing value semantics and direct containment for objects; some would say that it is highly data type complete. Another distinguishing feature, valuable although causing a lot of complexity, is private inheritance. A third contribution is constructors and destructors, which protect a common heel of Achilles in OOPLs."

"Another niche for which C++ looks very suitable as an intermediate language: even here it is an improvement over C, which is now most commonly used."

"C is an elegant language; it is small and simple. The syntax of C++ is similar to that of C, but its semantics are neither small nor simple."