C++ is a powerful and flexible general-purpose programming language that supports a number of different coding paradigms, including:

object-oriented
procedural
functional
generic programming

What is now called C++ was originally C with classes, developed in the late '70s by scientist Bjarne Stroustrup. C++ began its life as a set of enhancements to allow object-oriented programming in C.

C++ classes and objects are used for object-oriented programming, and C++ templates are used for generic programming. The C++ Standard Template Library, the STL, provides a tremendous amount of common functionality.

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The Features of C++ as a Language
Now that all the necessary theory has been covered, now it is possible to explain what C++ has to offer as a programming language. C++...

...is an open ISO-standardized language.
For a time, C++ had no official standard and was maintained by a de-facto standard, however since 1998, C++ is standardized by a committee of the ISO. Their page may be accessed here.

...is a compiled language.
C++ compiles directly to a machine's native code, allowing it to be one of the fastest languages in the world, if optimized.

...is a strongly-typed unsafe language.
C++ is a language that expects the programmer to know what he or she is doing, but allows for incredible amounts of control as a result.

...supports both manifest and inferred typing.
As of the latest C++ standard, C++ supports both manifest and inferred typing, allowing flexibility and a means of avoiding verbosity where desired.

...supports both static and dynamic type checking.
C++ allows type conversions to be checked either at compile-time or at run-time, again offering another degree of flexibility. Most C++ type checking is, however, static.

...offers many paradigm choices.
C++ offers remarkable support for procedural, generic, and object-oriented programming paradigms, with many other paradigms being possible as well.

...is portable.
As one of the most frequently used languages in the world and as an open language, C++ has a wide range of compilers that run on many different platforms that support it. Code that exclusively uses C++'s standard library will run on many platforms with few to no changes.

...is upwards compatible with C
C++, being a language that directly builds off C, is compatible with almost all C code. C++ can use C libraries with few to no modifications of the libraries' code.

...has incredible library support.
A search for "library" on the popular project-management website SourceForge will yield over 3000 results for C++ libraries. A link to the results of the search may be found here.

Source: cplusplus - this site also has some great tutorials.

The C++ programming language is one of the most important languages in computing today.It is the go-to language for many large and small projects.