Re:Switching to C over 'Modern' Programming Languages
by jacquesm on Thursday April 13, 2023 @04:53AM
(#35552739)
Sure, but none of those were for systems programming which is squarely the domain that C was aimed at, case in point: the first thing that C was used to write was UNIX (before then it was BCPL and this was iirc before C even had structs which made that a very tricky job, once structs were in place it got a lot easier). Probably Don Hopkins has more knowledge about this.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Switching to C over 'Modern' Programming Languages
by flohofwoe on Thursday April 13, 2023 @05:07AM
(#35552847)
> before C even had structs which made that a very tricky job...
...interesting that you mention that, I think that functions and structs are the essential 'core abstraction tools' that get you to at least 80% of any higher level abstractions that were invented since then, and this is exactly the reason why C is still quite popular. Its feature set is just enough to be considered a high level language which enables abstractions, but not more (especially no fads and fashions that came and disappeared again).
Re:Switching to C over 'Modern' Programming Languages
by pjmlp on Friday April 14, 2023 @04:58AM
(#35567159)
C23 has lots of stuff into it, except improved safety.
Re:Switching to C over 'Modern' Programming Languages
by pjmlp on Thursday April 13, 2023 @03:09PM
(#35560558)
There were enough languages for systems programming outside Bell Labs, all the way back to 1958.
It is a urban myth that C was the first one, usually pushed by naturally UNIX folks.
JOVIAL, ESPOL, NEWP, PL/I, PL/S, PL.8, PL/M, Bliss, Mesa, Modula-2, VMS Basic, VMS Pascal,...