[galenlynch]

It seems you think their mistake was using C in the first place, and not the way they used C.

Calling people out for not using a language that you prefer is not helping them learn, nor is it bitter medicine to those who find learning your preferred language "hard".

[lucb1e]

> It seems you think their mistake was using C in the first place, and not the way they used C.

I mean, guns are restricted in all countries, while of course it's the way guns are used that is truly what people take issue with. If you hang it up on your own wall and never take it off, nobody has an issue with your gun, but enforcement of that is nigh impossible and so we restrict the ownership to policemen and allow only things like hunting rifles for the small group that still likes to go hunting.

As someone working in security, I'd make a similar though obviously less extreme case for unsafe languages like C. If you don't need it, then why use something that you can shoot yourself in the foot with? You put other people at risk through using it incorrectly and it's nigh impossible to enforce secure coding. Many people seem to think that you need C++, C, or assembly to write fast code whereas nowadays there are plenty of alternatives without some of C's biggest issues.

[tediousdemise]

To me, this is not a simple matter of preference like your choice of editor or the way you prefer to have it configured, to be used by you and you alone.

Software, especially open source software, is often collaborative. The programming language is a way of expressing yourself not only to your compiler, but also to other human beings.

Would you write a book today in Middle English, when the rest of the world is expecting modern English?