C is a mid-level language and it dominates that space. The high-level space still doesn't have a winner and it probably won't for some time. It has a lot of ex

C is a mid-level language and it dominates that space. The high-level space still doesn't have a winner and it probably won't for some time. It has a lot of excellent languages that are all radically different (Clojure, Haskell, Python, Scala, Erlang) and each is really cool in some ways and very infuriating in others. C, of course, is really cool in some ways and very infuriating in others as well. I've taken up learning C, and my feeling about it is that it's not a "jump in and figure it out" language, in the way that most technologies are, because you're absolutely right. Naive or "cargo cult" C is going to be a disaster from a security, code-quality, and production stability perspective. For most technologies to qualify as safe, sane, and consensual, they have to be secure even when wielded by a programmer who cobbled together incomplete knowledge from a few dozen Internet articles about how to do stuff. Not C. There are "quick adoption" technologies with quick learning curves and "lifer" technologies that are quirky and hard to learn at first but provide long-lived knowledge. C is a lifer language. If you don't treat it as such, you'll faceplant.