I think a lot of comments in this thread are too harsh. I am a C programmer myself and see the value of it in embedded systems, operating system kernels etc. W

I think a lot of comments in this thread are too harsh. I am a C programmer myself and see the value of it in embedded systems, operating system kernels etc. While it is possible to write correct programs in C and C++ (which are very different languages, but usually mentioned together because of their names and history), it is too easy to make mistakes that are not caught by the compiler. It is easier to be sloppy in C than in say, Go or Rust. I have seen this in my own code and also in others' code. C is not the only way to write system programs. Oberon, Inferno are good examples of OS environments written in safer languages. But I agree that some of the disadvantages of C are also its advantages. The author of the blog post has more followup posts: http://trevorjim.com/why-safe-languages-are-the-best-way-to-achieve-memory-safety/ http://trevorjim.com/an-unsafe-legacy/ http://trevorjim.com/unsafe-at-any-speed/ [edit: fix typos, rephrase a few sentences, fix links]