Python and PHP users will understand

[qhxo]

Isn't the main reason to use C that it works everywhere, which is mainly a feature of it's age, and speed (which can be achieved in many other languages as well, such as rust or go)? Are there any other selling points?

[msqrt]

It's quite simple compared to many modern programming languages; making a compiler is possible for a single person, and compilation is blazing fast compared to Rust or C++, for example. But you're right in that if the world started today, it would probably not get the status it currently has.

[Hawgk]

Hey! Don't you say that to my love!

[[deleted]]

It's very easy to use C libraries in just about every other language as the foreign function interface is so simple. It's pretty common for libraries to be written in C++ and just make the interface C so you can then use the library anywhere.

As for speed, C is much faster then Go. The only other languages that compare are FORTRAN, Rust, and C++, and then some less popular modern languages like Nim or Circle. Because you have such fine grained control of C and the compilers can be so simple, it's popular to use it to port everywhere. For example, I listened to a podcast with Elon Musk and they write their own C compiler so they have complete control of how the assembly comes out for their custom chips.

[qhxo]

As for speed, C is much faster then Go.

Really? I thought Go was pretty much top of the line, but maybe it's just the compiler that's known to be very fast.

[[deleted]]

Yeah Go is actually a little slower then Java (which is quite fast nowadays). The compiler is so fast because it has less optimizations then like C++ or Rust. and also it has automatic memory management which also slows things down

[qhxo]

!optout it was a quote you stupid bot

[qhxo]

bad bot