Science Quote by Bjarne Stroustrup

Stroustrup’s language is almost aggressively mild, the kind of understated phrasing that hides a hard-earned scar tissue from decades of watching “innovation” turn into lock-in. “Encourage” signals a pragmatic engineer’s politics: not a manifesto, not regulation-by-fiat, but a steady push against the gravity of vendor incentives. Yet the target is clear. “Nonproprietary standards” isn’t just about technical elegance; it’s a bulwark against the quiet monopolies that form when a toolchain, library, or format becomes a private toll road.

The context matters: C++ grew up in a world where compilers, platforms, and corporate ecosystems competed fiercely, and where code’s half-life routinely outlasts the companies that ship it. In that environment, proprietary dependencies aren’t merely inconvenient; they’re existential risks to maintenance, portability, and institutional memory. Standards, in Stroustrup’s frame, are a kind of civic infrastructure for software: boring, negotiated, imperfect, and essential.

Notice the scope: “tools and libraries,” not just languages. That’s a subtle admission that standards bodies can bless syntax, but real power sits in the surrounding ecosystem where build systems, package managers, and “must-have” libraries quietly dictate what’s possible. The subtext is a defense of user sovereignty. If your code can move, you can bargain; if it can’t, you’re renting your own future.