7 ms·

Out of interest, why would people laugh at someone learning C? I know plenty of people using C in all manner of domains, choosing it over C++ or Rust for fair a

Out of interest, why would people laugh at someone learning C? I know plenty of people using C in all manner of domains, choosing it over C++ or Rust for fair and sensible reasons - I'm not a C person myself, but it certainly seems extremely useful to have in the toolkit!

shrimp_emoji 7y ago
>choosing it over C++ or Rust for fair and sensible reasons I don't think such reasons exist. I don't think C/C++ should be used when superior alternatives exist (Rust). It's like smoking; you're just hurting yourself. Unless you're being like the programming equivalent of a steam engine enthusiast or a historian. (In a world where most of the industry is still using steam engines cuz we're in too deep and must ride the inertial tide for at least a few decades.)
- wyck 7y ago
  whoosh..
- tomnj 7y ago
  There are plenty of reasons to still learn C even if better alternatives exist for most new projects. There’s so much important software out there in C (and C++), for example the Linux kernel.
  - tomnj 7y ago
    And C is still king in many domains, eg embedded development.
wyck 7y ago
I've noticed this a lot on hackernews, there is an apprehesion to say certain things as though there is some sort of pedigree or gating when discussing topics, especially when it's personal...there isn't. Case in point: The comment below mine...
tomxor 7y ago
I want to learn C not (only) because I think it's useful, but because I think I might like it. I have a particular interpreted language that I like, enjoy and know inside out, now I want to know a compiled one in a similar way. To answer your question: I get the impression from various tech news on "hot new languages" that C is the incumbent systems language that people put up with but don't really love, and yet I want to try and love it. I've developed a taste for minimalism, simplicity and a degree of brevity in programming, I have a feeling I might find C more suited to me than C++, Rust, Go, Java etc for this reason despite the lack of "modern" features.
- juped 7y ago
  I love C. Lots of people do.
selfish-duck 7y ago
I started coding 10 years ago (damn I just figured that...) learning C at my engineering school for 2 years. Never had to use it ever since (mostly working front-end and webAPIs) but I'm still glad I studied it to learn the programming foundations. I would probably choose Rust or Go today though.
MaxBarraclough 7y ago
> why would people laugh at someone learning C? I suppose because of the perception that many programmers already know C. Which is true, but only some fraction know it well, which is far more important in C than in most modern languages.

shrimp_emoji 7y ago

>choosing it over C++ or Rust for fair and sensible reasons I don't think such reasons exist. I don't think C/C++ should be used when superior alternatives exist (Rust). It's like smoking; you're just hurting yourself. Unless you're being like the programming equivalent of a steam engine enthusiast or a historian. (In a world where most of the industry is still using steam engines cuz we're in too deep and must ride the inertial tide for at least a few decades.)

wyck 7y ago
whoosh..
tomnj 7y ago
There are plenty of reasons to still learn C even if better alternatives exist for most new projects. There’s so much important software out there in C (and C++), for example the Linux kernel.
- tomnj 7y ago
  And C is still king in many domains, eg embedded development.

wyck 7y ago

I've noticed this a lot on hackernews, there is an apprehesion to say certain things as though there is some sort of pedigree or gating when discussing topics, especially when it's personal...there isn't. Case in point: The comment below mine...

tomxor 7y ago

I want to learn C not (only) because I think it's useful, but because I think I might like it. I have a particular interpreted language that I like, enjoy and know inside out, now I want to know a compiled one in a similar way. To answer your question: I get the impression from various tech news on "hot new languages" that C is the incumbent systems language that people put up with but don't really love, and yet I want to try and love it. I've developed a taste for minimalism, simplicity and a degree of brevity in programming, I have a feeling I might find C more suited to me than C++, Rust, Go, Java etc for this reason despite the lack of "modern" features.

juped 7y ago
I love C. Lots of people do.

selfish-duck 7y ago

I started coding 10 years ago (damn I just figured that...) learning C at my engineering school for 2 years. Never had to use it ever since (mostly working front-end and webAPIs) but I'm still glad I studied it to learn the programming foundations. I would probably choose Rust or Go today though.

MaxBarraclough 7y ago

> why would people laugh at someone learning C? I suppose because of the perception that many programmers already know C. Which is true, but only some fraction know it well, which is far more important in C than in most modern languages.