In the absence of an official standard, the book served for several years as the de facto documentation for the evolving C++ language, until the release of the ISO/IEC 14882:1998: Programming Language C++ standard on 1 September 1998.

As the standard further evolved with the standardization of language and library extensions and with the publication of technical corrigenda, later editions of the book were updated to incorporate the new changes.

As C++ evolved, a second edition was published in July 1991, reflecting the changes made.

[2] C++ Solutions (ISBN 0-201-30965-3) is a companion book to the third edition of The C++ Programming Language.

It contains solutions to selected exercises of The C++ Programming Language.