Re:C Is Not a Low-level Language (2018)
by eesmith on Tuesday December 28, 2021 @04:53PM
(#29718725)
I don't like responding to anecdotes with anecdotes, so rather than reply with a (IMO pointless) "what?! I hear people talk about C as a low-level language far more often than I hear them talk about it as a systems language", I prefer to give something more substantial.
Restricting my hastily assembled search to HN, I easily find comments from within the last few months referring to C as a low-level language ... and yes, as a systems language too.
HN is a casual setting with newer programmers.
Because to most people with a firm understanding of the nature of English my statement means:
"When I, in current times not 40 years ago, hear people talk about C, they most often refer to it as a systems level language".
-
Of course, I forget this is HN and there are some people who think that it means:
I have never seen "C" and "low level" on the same line of text!
For these unfortunate cases, there is a belief that 40 year old K&R references (...) and some hastily assembled search results will change my reality... but that's a separate issue I'm not interested in.
Those people are definitely free to consider me a liar, the world will keep spinning for the rest of us.