I'm an old programmer. I started with Java, learned Ada because I thought it'd be the next best thing. Then learned Cpp for windows programming, then php. Then

I'm an old programmer. I started with Java, learned Ada because I thought it'd be the next best thing. Then learned Cpp for windows programming, then php. Then a job with Java, then embedded work with C. And coursework in C. My thesis was a data structure implemented in C and Java. Then a decade and a half of Cpp because robotics and ROS dominates that area. Distrbuted robotics in Cpp. Along the way Python took off, I've used R and Matlab for research for years at a time. Now Rust is here. I have never stopped "thinking in C" from my few years of embedded work near the operating system or on bare metal. It's the language that makes the most sense when you study CPUs. The concepts match OS apis. It is simple to write C glue for any of the above languages. C libraries are not mangled. Etc etc. C feels like the language that computers and software are made with, and all other languages just try to hide that by building someone on top of it. I say that as a feeling but it might just be true. Now Rust is here and I love it when it tries to be like C. It's clean, pure, I believe the compiler when it says something (not like Cpp), and the mental leap to the borrow checked matches ownership dynamics from C pretty well. I hate it when it tries to be like Python or JavaScript, pulling 1000 libraries for something flashy and simple. But that's us, the programmers. The language is strict because it's the core of C without the generality. If C is the wilderness, Rust is the national park. It's beautiful, sparse, you can get lost for days, but it's safer.