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I remember back when they called C a high level language- because it wasn’t assembler. Yes, I’m old. But, my point is that there probably isn’t a definitive a

I remember back when they called C a high level language- because it wasn’t assembler. Yes, I’m old. But, my point is that there probably isn’t a definitive answer to that question that won’t change with changing technology.

neokantian 8y ago
Well, C already "adds a lot of value". For example, the mere act of defaulting to a calling convention, is already a commitment. The default generated, will not always be locally optimal. No matter how much the compiler rethinks its default choices ("optimization"), you will still end up with sequences of assembly instructions that will be considered stupid on closer inspection. Hence, you already unavoidably pay a price there. In the real world, nothing comes for free!
zoom6628 8y ago
Speaking as another old person (50+) yes i too remember when C started becoming in-vogue for apps (shortly before VB4) and it was considered high-level by a lot of folks. Even in a COBOL enterprise system in which i worked at the time C was considered more high-level than low-level although we used it to build a runtime for COBOL apps. I have seen this type of discussion go on for decades, literally, but to my simply mind low-level means at the machine instruction set level. Everything above that is something else and i think the label of high or low level is frankly both arbitrary and meaningless. In recent years having spent time working with C on Arduino and Python for apps/hacks, and I also have dabbled with pascal(several variants of it), the only term i can think of to meaningfully describe any language is 'fit for purpose'. And if your purpose is to do ray-tracing from an environment that needs be supportive of programming noobs then maybe C# with tweaks is the best fit. If your environment requires burning programs directly into silicon then maybe verilog is best fit for purpose. Its not about what you like, what you know, what is trendy, what is top of the pops this week - its about getting shit done and that happens when you use the right tools. The tech industry, like every other industry, ultimately involves people and people are as subject to fashion, peeves, and emotional attachment to their investments(i.e. the languages you know well) - a comment on C# vs C++ seems to start wars just as religious as vi vs emacs as we had back in the 80s with COBOL vs RPG3! End of rant.

neokantian 8y ago

Well, C already "adds a lot of value". For example, the mere act of defaulting to a calling convention, is already a commitment. The default generated, will not always be locally optimal. No matter how much the compiler rethinks its default choices ("optimization"), you will still end up with sequences of assembly instructions that will be considered stupid on closer inspection. Hence, you already unavoidably pay a price there. In the real world, nothing comes for free!

zoom6628 8y ago

Speaking as another old person (50+) yes i too remember when C started becoming in-vogue for apps (shortly before VB4) and it was considered high-level by a lot of folks. Even in a COBOL enterprise system in which i worked at the time C was considered more high-level than low-level although we used it to build a runtime for COBOL apps. I have seen this type of discussion go on for decades, literally, but to my simply mind low-level means at the machine instruction set level. Everything above that is something else and i think the label of high or low level is frankly both arbitrary and meaningless. In recent years having spent time working with C on Arduino and Python for apps/hacks, and I also have dabbled with pascal(several variants of it), the only term i can think of to meaningfully describe any language is 'fit for purpose'. And if your purpose is to do ray-tracing from an environment that needs be supportive of programming noobs then maybe C# with tweaks is the best fit. If your environment requires burning programs directly into silicon then maybe verilog is best fit for purpose. Its not about what you like, what you know, what is trendy, what is top of the pops this week - its about getting shit done and that happens when you use the right tools. The tech industry, like every other industry, ultimately involves people and people are as subject to fashion, peeves, and emotional attachment to their investments(i.e. the languages you know well) - a comment on C# vs C++ seems to start wars just as religious as vi vs emacs as we had back in the 80s with COBOL vs RPG3! End of rant.