Why C is Still the Go-To Language for Programmers | Linux Today
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‘C‘ is a general-purpose programming language developed by Dennis Ritchie at AT&T Bell Labs in the early 1970s. It was designed to be a structured programming language. While initially created to design the UNIX operating system, ‘C‘ quickly gained popularity due to its efficiency and flexibility, allowing programmers to write various types of software.
  • nousEnglish
    2·
    4 days ago

    The premise of this article if false. C is not the Go-To language for programmers. Pick any random programmer in the world and C will likely not be their main language and chances are they will never have even touched it before. There are a lot of languages in a lot of domains and a lot of programmers working in a lot of different places. Just look at the vast amount of web developers out there most of which have never even looked at C code before. Sure C underpins a lot of technology these days, but that does not make it the go to language for most people in anyway.

    In today’s world, where languages like Perl, PHP, Java, and others dominate, you may wonder why ‘C‘ is still widely used.

    I am sorry, what year was this written? Listing those languages in 2024? How out of touch is this author. Also that statement alone undermines the point of C being the go to language if others are more dominate languages.

    Why Do Most Programming Courses Start with ‘C’?

    … Because they don’t? There are a vast number more courses out there all the different languages out there. Python, java etc tend to be very popular with people new to programming as well and are very often the first languages taught even in Universities. C is often a single module given out eventually, but is rarely the first thing taught unless you are going for something like an embedded engineering degree.

    ‘C’ in the Real World

    Did you know that 90% of the world’s supercomputers run Linux? Linux, which forms the backbone of many servers, smartphones, and even space exploration systems, is primarily written in C. The Linux 3.2 kernel alone had over 15 million lines of code, showcasing the power and relevance of C in modern software.

    Ok? Umm I think I am lost now. I don’t get where this trail of thought is going. Why do we care about supercomputers at all? Why is Linux relevant here? Most developers are not Linux kernel developers by any stretch of the imagination and most C developers are not Linux kernel developers either. And super computers are not really relevant to anyone but some very niche people. And 3.2? I think the author is showing their age again.

    Remember, learning ‘C‘ is a stepping stone to understanding many other programming languages, and its influence on the software we use every day is undeniable.

    Learning any language is a stepping stone to understanding many other programming languages. C is not that much more special than python or java or anything else here really.