I just saw on YouTube an interview to Bjarne Stroustrup. Stroustrup began developing C++ in 1979 (then called “C with Classes”),  and, in his own words, “invented C++, wrote its early definitions, and  produced its first implementation… chose and formulated the design  criteria for C++, designed all its major facilities, and was responsible  for the processing of extension proposals in the C++ standards  committee.” Stroustrup also wrote a textbook for the language in 1985,  The C++ Programming Language.

The thing I found most interesting was the assertion by  Stroustrup that higher levels of abstraction (or maybe the right level?)  produces more compact and efficient code. There are two things that  need to be matched, on one side the idea of what needs to be done, that  is in the mind of the programmer, on the other side is the machine  instructions that are executed by the computer. The function of the  programming language, or rather the compiler, is to allow the programmer  to express his idea clearly, so that the optimizer will produce an  executable that its reliable, efficient, and that corresponds to the  idea of the programmer.

According to Stroustrup, reliability and efficiency are systems  properties, and the way to achieve them is by simplification. The  central idea is to have a flexible and effective type implementation  that allows the programmer to match the types of his application to his  needs without a performance penalty.