C++ is an object-oriented programming language that is an incremented version of C with classes added. Some key differences between C and C++ are that C++ uses object-oriented programming with classes that can contain both data and functions, while C focuses more on procedures/functions and allows any function to access data. The document then discusses the basic concepts of object-oriented programming in C++ including classes, objects, polymorphism, inheritance, encapsulation, and data abstraction. It provides examples of classes, objects, reference variables, default arguments, and dynamic memory allocation in C++.