> C was famously well designed. The problems it was well designed for have disappeared and its good ideas are so well understood that, like many great early wor

> C was famously well designed. The problems it was well designed for have disappeared and its good ideas are so well understood that, like many great early works, they are cliches that can no longer be recognised for their brilliance because everyone is doing that. Another way of looking at this is that C is a step on a staircase. There were many steps before it, and there are many after. It's okay to pause on a step for a while and catch your breath. Pause too long and you might start thinking this is a good place to stop, since the steps in front of you seem more trouble than they're worth. You may be tired of climbing, and that's okay. No one person has to keep climbing, but we need people to continue on, so we can see what's at the top of the staircase. So even if some of us decide to make our step a cozy place and settle down, let's be sure to cheer those continuing on, and not try to convince them all to stop with us.