Possible Duplicate:
The written versions of the logical operators.
I notice that C++ define keyword and, or, not, xor, and_eq, or_eq, not_eq and xor_eq as an alternative to &&, ||, !, ^, &=, |=, != and |=. and they're rarely used! What's wrong? Are they not portable?
Answer
They come from C AFAIR from times when it was not known what special symbols are on the keyboard. So to have portable language they were defined so anyone can use C even if they used keyboard with no &, |, or ^ (etc.).
Nowadays when QWERTY is a standard (with AZWERTY & co. as variations) it is no longer an issue.
PS. And of course for obfuscation code competitions ;)