What does the "c" mean in cout, cin, cerr and clog?
I originally guessed console, and this link confirmed it. But after seeing the quote from Stroustrup, it seems that's a misconception, and that the c stands for character.
One thing in favor of that theory that can serve as an indicator is the fact that for each stream object (cin
, cout
, cerr
, etc.) there is an equivalent, wide-stream one (wcin
, wcout
, wcerr
, etc.).
Edit: FredOverflow has found the right answer with a link toward Stroustrup web site.
A c++ standard draft (n1905.pdf on www.open-std.org, I don't have the exact link) seems to indicate that it comes from "C" : "C standard output" => cout
27.3 Standard iostream objects [lib.iostream.objects]
1- The header <iostream> declares objects that associate objects with the standard C streams provided for by the functions declared in <cstdio> (27.8.2).
[...]
27.3.1 Narrow stream objects [lib.narrow.stream.objects]
istream cin
1- The object cin controls input from a stream buffer associated with the object stdin, declared in <cstdio>.
[...]
The "c" stands for "character" because iostreams map values to and from byte (char) representations. [Bjarne Stroustrup's C++ Style and Technique FAQ]