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> C succeeded because of Unix, not the other way around. Unix was given away and ran on small, inexpensive minicomputers (originally the PDP-11). Lisp typically
by didibus 7y ago
> C succeeded because of Unix, not the other way around. Unix was given away and ran on small, inexpensive minicomputers (originally the PDP-11). Lisp typically ran on more expensive equipment.
Yes I agree with that, I thought I had made that point clear.
C won over the other C-like due to Unix. But Lisp-likes lost because they weren't fast enough to run on commodity hardware. That meant that the hardware that became popular did not run Lisp, and didn't have an OS written in Lisp. Instead it did C, this has created a massive momentum that still dictates to this day what language is popular and which one isn't, in my opinion. At least it is a strong contributor I'd say.