[tamnd]

I have learned that too. If you write about C, almost no one clicks. It is not new, it is not flashy, and it does not promise easy results. Yet almost everything still runs on it. The quiet parts of computing rarely get attention, even though they keep everything working.

I still write about C anyway. It may not trend, but it lasts.

[tialaramex]

I'm sure I'm not alone - after decades - already knowing far too much about C, so that any article I'm likely to read either I'm like "No, that's wrong and I even understand why you thought that, but it's still wrong" or I just nod along and sigh.

I spent a substantial fraction of my professional career writing C, and I remain interested in WG14 (the language committee) and in several projects written in C though I avoid writing any more of it myself.

The reason it's so widespread is called "Worse is Better" and I believe that has somewhat run its course. If you weren't aware of "Worse is better" a quick Google should find you the original essay on that topic years back.

In contrast when I read an article about say Zig, or Swift, I am more likely to learn something new.

But I can certainly endorse your choice to write about whatever you want - life is too short to try to get a high score somehow.

[tamnd]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I have never deployed any production C code and I would not choose C for professional work either, but learning it, with all its rough edges, has made me a better engineer. It helps me understand how things really work under the hood. No pain, no gain.

Maybe I am biased, but for professional work, I stay with Go. I have built large distributed data systems that handle hundreds of millions of business transactions daily, and Go has been steady and reliable for that scale. Its simplicity, strong concurrency model, and easy deployment make it practical for production systems. I still enjoy exploring Zig and Rust in my spare time, but for shipping real systems, Go continues to get the job done without getting in the way.

[lelanthran]

> I still write about C anyway. It may not trend, but it lasts.

> I have never deployed any production C code and I would not choose C for professional work either

What do you write about C, if not for practical usage in the industry? Can you post some links?

FWIW, since you seem interested, here are some blog posts of mine specifically about practical usage of C, some of which got a little discussion here on HN in the past:

https://www.lelanthran.com/chap13/content.html

https://www.lelanthran.com/chap9/content.html

https://www.lelanthran.com/chap5/content.html

[tamnd]

> I'm sure I'm not alone - after decades - already knowing far too much about C, so that any article I'm likely to read either I'm like "No, that's wrong and I even understand why you thought that, but it's still wrong" or I just nod along and sigh.

If you have some spare time, I would really like to hear more about your experiences. It sounds like you have worked with C for a long time, and that kind of insight is hard to find now.

Most people around me started with JavaScript or TypeScript as their first language, and for many, that is still all they know. I mean no disrespect, it is just how things are today. It would be great to hear how your view of programming has changed over the years and what lessons from C still matter in your work today.

[lelanthran]

> It sounds like you have worked with C for a long time, and that kind of insight is hard to find now.

I've already replied to you in a sibling post, but I have been writing in C since the mid-90s; there's really not that much insight you get specifically to C.

[johnisgood]

How old are you? I am asking because of "Most people around me started with JavaScript or TypeScript as their first language".

Am I old? I am 31, and I started with C around age 14 (writing mods for ioquake3 forks), been my most used programming language ever since.

[zamadatix]

An alternative view of "not new and flashy" is "known and expected", which not 100% of C conversations have to be. Just look at the excitement around Fil-C lately!