[brudgers]

Magazines like BYTE were the primary communication channel in those days. Among computing professionals, C might not have been big news for many by 1983. For hobbyists and many other computer users it probably was. Most people's knowledge about programming languages in those days would probably be Basic and Assembly.

In summer 1982, a learned of Pascal's existence at the local university...but my classes were in Basic. I first encountered C in the late 1980's in the context of the Amiga and its ROM Kernel Manuals.

Two decades later, HN is where I heard of Python, Ruby and Clojure [and Rust, Go, Haskell, J, Julia, etc.]. The medium had changed, but for anyone not tuned to the right channel it all passes unnoticed. Even today. most people use Windows and installing a C compiler is outside normal operating parameters.

None of which prevents me from noting how I miss the physicality of BYTE and other magazines from that era, too.