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I didn't know of the critique of K&R in LCTHW that got taken down. I'm surprised that the rabble-rousers weren't able to take it in context. When K&R was first

I didn't know of the critique of K&R in LCTHW that got taken down. I'm surprised that the rabble-rousers weren't able to take it in context. When K&R was first authored, there were no "seasoned" C programmers from which to draw on for their experience in writing safe, secure C code!

billrobertson42 12y ago
Yes and no. Perhaps when the first edition was published that was true, but the second edition was published 11 years later.
- greenyoda 12y ago
  When the second edition was published in 1988, there were seasoned C programmers, but security wasn't nearly the issue it is today. Since there was no World Wide Web yet, most computer systems weren't exposed to a global network full of people who wanted to crack code for profit. There was no e-commerce, no on-line banking, etc.
  - claystu 12y ago
    Was the Morris Worm, which brought down a huge percentage of Unix Servers in 1988, the result of C? In any case, there was definitely a network that was being used by a lot of people by 1988.
    - greenyoda 12y ago
      I think you're overestimating the impact of the Morris Worm - there weren't all that many servers to bring down. The first commercial ISP in the U.S. was founded in 1989.[1] Until then, only a few people in universities and the tech and defense industries had access to the internet. According to this chart[2], the number of internet hosts in 1992 is barely distinguishable from zero on today's scale. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_service_provider#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_service_provider#Hist... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Number_of_internet_hosts.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Number_of_internet_hosts....