Prettiest way to typeset “C++”?

Question

Writing "C++" in plain text results in an ugly setting, as the '+' signs are too big and too spaced:

I've seen around the web several marcos for typesetting the "C++" symbol, ranging from mild kerning to shrinking, raising and lowering the '+' signs. What is your version of a \cpp{} macro?

Answer 1

By general request (or something of the like at least), I made it an answer.

The C++ FAQ mentions this specific problem: http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/misc-environmental-issues.html#faq-40.2. The two things they wish to provide are a better typesetting and prevention of line breaks, two possibilities are given:

\newcommand{\CC}{C\nolinebreak\hspace{-.05em}\raisebox{.4ex}{\tiny\bf +}\nolinebreak\hspace{-.10em}\raisebox{.4ex}{\tiny\bf +}}
\def\CC{{C\nolinebreak[4]\hspace{-.05em}\raisebox{.4ex}{\tiny\bf ++}}}

The first one prevents a linebreak, raises the ++'s a little and puts them closer together.

The second only prevents a linebreak and raises the ++ a bit.

Both options put the ++'s in bold and typeset them a little smaller. Two more are given in the link, but I fail to see why they matter, line break prevention seems the must have for such a macro.

Edit: In case you want to use relative sizes you can use the relsize package, the code becomes

\newcommand\CC{C\nolinebreak\hspace{-.05em}\raisebox{.4ex}{\relsize{-3}{\bf +}}\nolinebreak\hspace{-.10em}\raisebox{.4ex}{\relsize{-3}{\bf +}}}
\newcommand\CC{C\nolinebreak[4]\hspace{-.05em}\raisebox{.4ex}{\relsize{-3}{\bf ++}}}

I don't have a favourite though, never needed to typeset C++ :). After experimenting a little, the second one is definitely my favourite, the version with kerning looks too much like the Haskell operator.

Answer 2

I’ve previously used the following definition (using \scalebox from the graphicx package):

\newcommand*\cpp{C\kern-0.2ex\raisebox{0.4ex}{\scalebox{0.8}{+\kern-0.4ex+}}}

Note that it doesn’t do some things that Pieter’s solution does, in particular it doesn’t prevent a line break (is this even possible here?) – but this could be amended easily by putting it into an \mbox. I’ve also modified the kerning to make the two plusses merge into one. Whether this looks good somewhat depends on the font, though.

In hindsight, the plusses are too high for my taste.

Answer 3

I think it depends quite a bit on the font you use. I just tried the recommended macros with Lucida Bright, and in general the +'s were way too small and way too high. I got a reasonable result with the macros recommended in the C++ FAQ, but replacing \tiny by \small and raising the boxes only .2ex instead of .4ex. I suggest you experiment with your font.