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Ask HN: Why do so many developers dislike C when I find it inspiring?

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Re: Ask HN: Why do so many developers dislike C when I find it inspiring?

#31

Post by silentpuck »

apothegm wrote: post #29
silentpuck wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I think you’re right — Python really shines in many areas. Honestly, a lot comes down to the person, the kind of problems they solve, their mindset… and sometimes, their scars. I don’t even fully know why Python didn’t click with me. I understood it. I saw how fast it can be. But for some reason, I kept drifting back to C. Maybe it’s just how my brain works. Maybe it’s where I found meaning. Hard to explain.

Ultimately, there are no right and wrong programming languages (except Visual Basic, lol, or maybe PHP 3). Sometimes a language is wrong for a specific project, but there’s nothing wrong with any particular language preference. I find it hilarious that there have been flame wars over the topic. So if you ultimately find more meaning or enjoyment in writing C code… sure, it’s not for everyone, but it’s awesome that yo…

It’s true — programming languages spark some of the fiercest debates. Everyone wants to defend the one that speaks to them.

That’s why it’s been such a pleasure having this kind of conversation — thoughtful, respectful, and grounded. Thanks again. I’ve really enjoyed it.

Re: Ask HN: Why do so many developers dislike C when I find it inspiring?

#32

Post by mikewarot »

For me, I started with BASIC on various machines, then moved to CP/M, then MS-DOS. I learned Turbo Pascal to be able to maintain a program that talked to a GTEK EPROM burner, and fell in love with the language after a few months.

I stuck with it through the various iterations, right up to the point where Borland's management went insane, and they lost their chief architect to Microsoft. I tried C++ after that, but the amount of boilerplate and cruft compared to Delphi was just unbearable.

Things I personally hate about C include

  * Case Sensitivity
  * NULL terminated strings
  * Macros  (there are usually many skunks worth of code smells compressed into C macros)
  * Pointer syntax that is way to easy to confuse with line noise.
  * Slow, oh so slow compiler/linker cycles
  * Usual association with make
Pascal is faster in compile and runtime. It's smaller, and has almost magical string these days.

Re: Ask HN: Why do so many developers dislike C when I find it inspiring?

#33

Post by magicalhippo »

silentpuck wrote: post #30
magicalhippo wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For me, a big part of Python’s productivity is its ecosystem of useful abstractions Yeah the huge amount of libraries that are readily available and can be used right away without messing with a complex build system is a huge deal. For me personally, C# is like the middle ground. A language I like much better than Python but also has a fairly rich ecosystem, and usually nuget makes including dependencies easy.

That’s a great point — C# really does hit a sweet spot between control and convenience. I’ve never spent serious time with it, but I’ve heard a lot of good things about the tooling and the ecosystem. Maybe one day I’ll give it a try — especially if I ever need something with more abstractions but less ceremony than Python. Thanks for sharing your take — it’s always helpful to hear how others find their flow.

I think when .Net 10 is released it's a good time to give it a whirl.

New in the upcoming release[1] will be the ability to run C# files as if they were scripts[2], ie without an explicit build step. Should lower the barrier to just fooling around.

I also like how they've gone away from the "everything must be an object" style ala Java, and allow top-level statements so it reads more like C/C++. It's just sugar, but for smaller programs that really makes a difference IMHO.

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44699174

[2]: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/announcing-dotnet-run-...

Re: Ask HN: Why do so many developers dislike C when I find it inspiring?

#34

Post by silentpuck »

markus_zhang wrote: post #28

I have never worked in a legacy C code base, but I could imagine that it might not be a pretty good experience. However, writing low level projects in C just by myself is very interesting.

Exactly. That’s how I feel too — writing small, precise tools in C by myself is strangely rewarding. Thanks for sharing that — it’s good to know others feel it too.

Re: Ask HN: Why do so many developers dislike C when I find it inspiring?

#35

Post by silentpuck »

mikewarot wrote: post #32

For me, I started with BASIC on various machines, then moved to CP/M, then MS-DOS. I learned Turbo Pascal to be able to maintain a program that talked to a GTEK EPROM burner, and fell in love with the language after a few months. I stuck with it through the various iterations, right up to the point where Borland's management went insane, and they lost their chief architect to Microsoft. I tried C++ after that, but th…

I really appreciate you sharing that journey — it reads like a personal history of programming. I’ve heard others mention the elegance of Turbo Pascal and Delphi, especially the string handling. And yes — C macros and pointer syntax can absolutely feel like arcane incantations sometimes.

I guess in the end, we all gravitate toward the languages that feel like home.

Re: Ask HN: Why do so many developers dislike C when I find it inspiring?

#36

Post by silentpuck »

magicalhippo wrote: post #33
silentpuck wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a great point — C# really does hit a sweet spot between control and convenience. I’ve never spent serious time with it, but I’ve heard a lot of good things about the tooling and the ecosystem. Maybe one day I’ll give it a try — especially if I ever need something with more abstractions but less ceremony than Python. Thanks for sharing your take — it’s always helpful to hear how others find their flow.

I think when .Net 10 is released it's a good time to give it a whirl. New in the upcoming release[1] will be the ability to run C# files as if they were scripts[2], ie without an explicit build step. Should lower the barrier to just fooling around. I also like how they've gone away from the "everything must be an object" style ala Java, and allow top-level statements so it reads more like C/C++. It's just sugar, but…

That actually sounds really cool. Being able to run C# like a script lowers the friction a lot. Thanks again.

Re: Ask HN: Why do so many developers dislike C when I find it inspiring?

#37

Post by netpaladinx »

All your points are valid. I don't think most people "dislike" C. People have options and most choose non-C. From my perspective, when the software or the system itself is already extremely complex, using C just adds more complexity on top. Many people including me choose not to add more.

Re: Ask HN: Why do so many developers dislike C when I find it inspiring?

#38

Post by muzani »

It's great when you're in the driver seat. It's not great when they need to launch in 3 months and management throws a bunch of intermediate engineers at you who can't do anything without "type safety".

Software will continue to grow to the point where people move rapidly until they hit a limit. We laugh at future devs being weak, future devs laugh at our tech being unsafe.

Re: Ask HN: Why do so many developers dislike C when I find it inspiring?

#39

Post by Tony_Delco »

I learned to program in C, and even though I use other languages more often these days, I’m very glad C was my starting point.

It forced me to understand memory, resource management, and what actually happens when you call a function or access a variable. No abstractions to hide behind — just the machine and you.

Even now, when performance matters, I often go back to C-level tools and techniques — mmap, manual memory control, system calls — because they give me the precision I need.

More importantly, learning C gave me fundamentals I don’t think you get as deeply with higher-level languages. It made it easier to pick up other languages, not just syntactically, but conceptually. I understand what they abstract away — and at what cost.

C isn’t perfect, and it’s not the right tool for everything. But if you want to understand computers, I still think it’s one of the best places to start.

And like it or not, there are still things that — for legacy, for portability, or for raw control — can only really be done in C.

Re: Ask HN: Why do so many developers dislike C when I find it inspiring?

#40

Post by farseer »

Its not about disliking C. If I have to build an MVP quickly, I need a higher level language to do some of the heavy lifting for me. Memory management or implementing thread safety is not something I wish to do everyday. Doing so would not pay my bills.
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