"Why on Earth would you voluntarily code in a language where people can debate something as simple as which type to use for integers, unless you absolutely had

"Why on Earth would you voluntarily code in a language where people can debate something as simple as which type to use for integers, unless you absolutely had to?" Because we have no alternatives so far. I do C programming for a living, but I'd be more than happy if there were some type and memory safe language I could use to program any tiny, obscure MCU, that could stay at least in the same order of magnitude of speed and let access hardware easily. Rust might be a step in a right direction, but it still has a looong way to go to become a viable alternative to C in embedded world. Of course, for a modern, high level development (web, mobile etc.), I see no reason to use C (maybe except for tiny libraries or co-routines where speed is critical). C is simply a tool -- it's neither good, nor bad -- and as every tool, it has it's use. You can easily break your fingers with a hammer, but that doesn't mean that it's a bad tool for driving nails in.