[BoorishBears]

So it sounds like they're endorsing that concept, and just don't want it to be a limiting term in terms of what people expect in regards to portability and scope?

"System level" does that just fine right? There's not much confusion about if C is tied to Unix anymore after all...

[eesmith]

I really don't understand the aim of your inquiry.

Yes, I see it called a systems programming language.

But unlike you, I see people call it low-level. The easiest counter-example was to point to K&R, which was my textbook in college. (Yes, pre-ANSI). And there are many people who still say that, as I found in a quick Google Scholar search:

] Although the Java platform has been used as a multi-language platform, most of the low-level languages (such as C, Fortran, and C++) - (2016) https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/2998415.2998416?casa_toke...

] Lifting these restrictions is primar-ily motivated by our desire to target low-level languages, such as C with pthreads - (2011) https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/1929553.1929558?casa_toke...

] Use-after-free vulnerabilities have plagued software written in low-level languages, such as C and C++, - (2020) https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=9152661...

Now that you've seen people call it low-level, you can't truthfully write a comment like you did at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29710906 .

[BoorishBears]

No, I can and I will, and it will still be truthful.

Because to most people with a firm understanding of the nature of English my statement means:

"When I, in current times not 40 years ago, hear people talk about C, they most often refer to it as a systems level language".

-

Of course, I forget this is HN and there are some people who think that it means:

I have never seen "C" and "low level" on the same line of text!

For these unfortunate cases, there is a belief that 40 year old K&R references (...) and some hastily assembled search results will change my reality... but that's a separate issue I'm not interested in.

Those people are definitely free to consider me a liar, the world will keep spinning for the rest of us.

[eesmith]

I don't like responding to anecdotes with anecdotes, so rather than reply with a (IMO pointless) "what?! I hear people talk about C as a low-level language far more often than I hear them talk about it as a systems language", I prefer to give something more substantial.

Restricting my hastily assembled search to HN, I easily find comments from within the last few months referring to C as a low-level language ... and yes, as a systems language too.

HN is a casual setting with newer programmers.