Why is C such an influential language? We asked ardent C fan Professor Brailsford.
Brian Kernighan Playlist:
Y Combinator:
Reason for ARM (Archimedes at 30):
This video was filmed and edited by Sean Riley.
Computer Science at the University of Nottingham:
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I think C is how the world got a hold of being able to make so many innovations, It's that perfect middleground that you can use to understand the metal in a way that isn't as abstracted. I think C is so important that I might even say that it's what schools should teach first. You can use C as a platform to understand both the higher languages and the computer chips and what limits they have.
Discreet components! Geat to hear of the context where they were evolved past.
KO AN
Jerfunkel PEANUTS LETTUCEA11
Send this man out of my sight. He displeases me… Happy wasting our real-world energy resources on cycles that dont need to occur.
"A Book on C: programming in C" by Al Kelley & Ira Pohl and "The C Programming Language" by by Brian Kernighan & Dennis Ritchie are great starting points. I still have both from way back when.
C is simple, but profound. Mastering computing concepts in the context of C forms a strong foundation.
Remembering that C considers Zero to be in the set of Natural Numbers, and not blowing past the end of arrays are the hardest parts of C!
C is the only language that is a transliteration of how a computer thinks.
Every other language is at best a translation.
Long Live C!!! 😁👍🏼
What you are totally overlooking, though, is the end user. That increased processor power isn't there to make the programmer's job easier. It's there to make it possible for the user get more done faster. If you squander it away using a pokey slow programming language, then you've stolen that processing power from us.
What you want is a language that PUTS THE HARDWARE AT YOUR DISPOSAL in the most efficient, flexible way possible, so that you can write the fastest, most powerful program possible. You're supposed to be an expert – you should be able to do that.
It's not theology – I agree with you on that. It's a completely PRACTICAL issue. It's about putting the most power humanly possible in the user's hands, not about making your job as easy as possible.
C MENTIONEDDDDDDDD
1970: Real men write in assembly
2015: Real men write in C
2035: Real men write their own prompt
C has no IO statements
Do not quote the deep magic to me, Wich. I was there when it was written.
Because XCode is dogshit.
9:51 How prescient. Rght now madmen and fools at US DOGE Service want to just tear down and re-write some of our most useful (and most used) systems simply because they don't like the word "COBOL". Lord help us Americans!
The fact that C is called high level in his time is much confusing in 2025.
“Horses for courses” is the best way to approach any problem in IT. Sometimes a different tool just fits the issue better.
Love the hairs on the chair.
Back in the 80s, I was a computer tech for a telecom company. I worked on a variety of systems, including VAX 11/780. We had 7 of them. One thing I recall is our programmers used Fortran for their programming. I have no idea why, as I suspect C would have been a better choice. Also, when I was taking a Fortran course at night school, I did my homework on a VAX at work. As for Z80s, a lot of them are in embedded applications, where a more powerful CPU isn't needed. Z80 production only recently ended. One other thing about assembler is the CPUs are now too complex to efficiently program in assembler and a compiler can now produce better results. Many years ago, I used to use assembler in 8080 code for my IMSAI 8080 computer and also wrote some small bits of code for the Data General Nova without benefit of an assembler. I did it all on square ruled paper. As for the LSI-11, it was not only used as a stand alone computer, but also for the console for the VAX computers. You could switch between working with the LSI-11 and using it as a terminal into the VAX. The command for that was STP (Set Terminal Program) and CTRL Z to exit.
He wraps it up very well in the end. There have been so many discussions about why the "Deutsche Bahn' was looking for a windows 3.11 Administrator.
I've been working for the 'Deutsche Telekom' when they replaced to some extend legacy Software there were problems for new contracts in Germany for 6 months that even the newspapers wrote about that – that is the major PSTN/Broadband provider for Germany.
And today we have compiler who outperform a bunch of people who directly write in Assembly
As someone who had no programming background, I thought learning C was going to be easier once I got through the functions and arrays, until I started pointers. At first I didn't understand them, and then I did, and then I didn't understand them again. So yes, I sympathize with those programmers that made the mistakes that led to Java banning them. They're painful.
Voice from Disco Elysium?!!
How does Forth compared to C?
Do you tink lower level programming languages like C will soon become outdated because of AI assisted programming? In the video you mention how you can quickly write a program in a higher language and change it to C if it is too slow. I feel like this is something AI's like ChatGPT or Gemini will be able to do really soon. Would you agree or will there still be a place for C programmers?
Dont fix it ,if its not broken LOL @09:10
Call him Aqua Man because hes powerful at C