[pjmlp]

> Also, C is supposed to scale down to //really// simple systems. Systems that lack indirect addressing modes, caches, MMUs, etc. It is literally intended to be a thin veneer over actual assembly for those systems, and why so many operations are specified in terms of /minimum standard unit size/ (for portability of that almost machine code between systems).

This is C snake oil, sold by the C community that usually omits the fact that computers build a decade before the PDP-11 like the Burroughs, already had much better systems programming languages like ESPOL and NEWP, two Algol derivatives.

Algol 68 already had slices and modules (Algol68 RS) among many other nice features, running in early 70's hardware.

There are a few other examples.