4 ms·

But it seems the OP's implicit point was that C is not the right language for higher-level operations. For low-level access it's not very obvious what else you

But it seems the OP's implicit point was that C is not the right language for higher-level operations. For low-level access it's not very obvious what else you would use. Personally I rarely use C because I currently write network services with REST APIs. C is close to worthless for that purpose for many reasons, not just errors. It's analogous to writing an accounting app in assembler. Most people stopped doing that in the 1960s.

pjmlp 10y ago
> For low-level access it's not very obvious what else you would use. Extended Algol, created in 1961. Almost 10 years before C. There are tons of other examples. C got widespread thanks to UNIX, just like a few decades later, JavaScript got widespread thanks to Web 2.0 and the browser. > It's analogous to writing an accounting app in assembler. Most people stopped doing that in the 1960s. Lotus 1-2-3 was initially written in Assembler, Ι will let you track down when it was created. My last 100% Assembly program was for MS-DOS in 1996.
- hodgesrm 10y ago
  > Lotus 1-2-3 was initially written in Assembler, Ι will let you track down when it was created. Interesting! I did not know that. I would still stand by the point that application programming by the end of the 60s was leaving the Assembler era and moving on to languages like COBOL and FORTRAN. (And weird cul-de-sacs like RPG which was my second programming language after BASIC.)
  - pjmlp 10y ago
    This was true on mainframes and workstations. At 8 bit and 16 bit computers target for consumers it was a different story. Forth, Basic, Pascal, C, Amos, Modula-2, Clipper were the "managed languages". Anything that required performance was written in Assembly, or high level in such "managed language" (Turbo Pascal on my case) with lots of inline Assembly.

4 ms·

But it seems the OP's implicit point was that C is not the right language for higher-level operations. For low-level access it's not very obvious what else you

by hodgesrm 10y ago

pjmlp 10y ago
> For low-level access it's not very obvious what else you would use. Extended Algol, created in 1961. Almost 10 years before C. There are tons of other examples. C got widespread thanks to UNIX, just like a few decades later, JavaScript got widespread thanks to Web 2.0 and the browser. > It's analogous to writing an accounting app in assembler. Most people stopped doing that in the 1960s. Lotus 1-2-3 was initially written in Assembler, Ι will let you track down when it was created. My last 100% Assembly program was for MS-DOS in 1996.
- hodgesrm 10y ago
  > Lotus 1-2-3 was initially written in Assembler, Ι will let you track down when it was created. Interesting! I did not know that. I would still stand by the point that application programming by the end of the 60s was leaving the Assembler era and moving on to languages like COBOL and FORTRAN. (And weird cul-de-sacs like RPG which was my second programming language after BASIC.)
  - pjmlp 10y ago
    This was true on mainframes and workstations. At 8 bit and 16 bit computers target for consumers it was a different story. Forth, Basic, Pascal, C, Amos, Modula-2, Clipper were the "managed languages". Anything that required performance was written in Assembly, or high level in such "managed language" (Turbo Pascal on my case) with lots of inline Assembly.