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by disinclination 2509 days ago
I’ve been thinking recently about how the symbol “C” in “C programming language” literally stands for “3”.

We out here like, “I’ve been getting really into this new language, 12,447. I think it might finally be the thing to replace 3 for me.”
1 comments
kbenson 2509 days ago
Except it wasn't the third. It was like something between the 50's and low 100's. There were lots of languages then, most being unpopular.

C was just intended to be third in that very specific lineage, and I wouldn't be surprised to find it wasn't really third and just making the claim with its name.

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coldtea 2509 days ago
>There were lots of languages then, most being unpopular.

Not to mention several more advanced than C, Go, or even Rust... (Lisp, for one, Smalltalk for another)

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kbenson 2509 days ago
Well, it depends on what you mean by advanced, and if you're just considering the language or language plus compiler/runtime, but I take your point, and mostly agree with it.
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