Post #2423054
2026-03-11 16:51 UTC
I would like to clarify that I have nothing against C. C gave me a job 20+ years ago and I'm still on it, the job safety alone is worth it (for me).
It's C being used in the wrong contexts that irks me.
Two kids making a lightweight compiler for a language without runtime checks, to make use of the PDP-11 in the corner of the computer room? Fine, absolutely fine.
Control software of the aircraft produced in thousands of units and carrying 200 passengers each time? The wrong language.
Replies (2)
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@zl2tod@mastodon.online 2026-03-11 17:18
@void_friend@tech.lgbt It's perhaps worth noting that Pascal and other languages had bounds checking built in before 1980.
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@datenwolf@chaos.social 2026-03-11 17:25
@void_friend@tech.lgbt Yeah, about bounds checking: This is not really a C problem, but a "compiler developers being so far up their own postmodern ass" problem, that the optimizer stage will remove all the bounds (and other data integrity) checks, if it can prove that the program flow will never excurse these checks. For that matter Rust for example may omit bounds checking code, because borrow checker and proofs. Trouble is: Computers are physical and faults happen.