[philwelch]

C is more like operating a very large saw without a handguard. If you're skilled and you know what you're doing, you won't cut off your fingers. Which means the median developer cuts off his fingers.

JS (and, more to the point, heavyweight JS framework code) is more like driving a massive SUV around everywhere because you think having to drive through snow and mud is more likely than having to park downtown, when really, all you do is drive around downtown in the summer. But you don't care, because you have a parking valet.

[pjmlp]

We all know how scrutinized Linux and BSD kernel development is and yet CVEs due to memory corruption happen all the time, to the point Kernel safety was the major topic all Linux Security Summit 2018.

If the best aren't able to write safe C what to say about everyone else?

[philwelch]

I wouldn't use a power saw without a handguard, either. But I'm not gonna tell Linus the master carpenter that he can't use his antiquated power saw. Sure, he only has eight fingertips, but he also built the tower we're all standing on right now and continues working on it to this day, so if he's really doing something wrong, the only way to prove it is for someone to get a newfangled power saw, with handguards, and build their own tower. And maybe, someday, someone will do that, and we will look back on the days of poor old Linus and his seven fingertips and wonder.

[Volt]

I don't know of a single person who hasn't made very bad mistakes using C. Even the stuff coming from Bell Labs (Plan 9, UNIX) has had trivially avoidable bugs. By your analogy, everyone has lost at least one digit.