Re:Best aspects of C
by WalterBright on Tuesday November 17, 2020 @10:53PM
(#25133018)
C won because it was the only low level language that was competently implemented for DOS for years. DOS was were 90% of the programming action was in the 80's, and C was a perfect fit for DOS. C also was easily extended to handle segmented memory.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
(Turbo/Borland) Pascal was comparable to C in terms of closeness to hardware on DOS - I mean, it even had language facilities specifically for interrupt handlers! A lot of DOS software was written in that. In some countries, it was the case for most DOS software made in them.
So I'd amend this to: C won because it was the only cross-platform low level language that was competently implemented for DOS.