this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2025
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Programming

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Time to make C the COBOL of this century (www.theregister.com)
submitted 2 months ago by cm0002@lemmy.world to c/programming@programming.dev
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[–] troyunrau@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

No.

C is going to be around and useful long after COBOL is collecting dust. Too many core things are built with C. The Linux kernel, the CPython interpreter, etc. Making C go away will require major rewrites of projects that have millions upon millions of hours of development.

Even Fortran has a huge installed base (compared to COBOL) and is still actively used for development. Sometimes the right tool for a job is an old tool, because it is so well refined for a specific task.

Forth anyone?

The rewrite-it-in-rust gang arrives in 3, 2 ...

[–] deathmetal27@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

People tend to be obsessed with bleeding edge technology. But those who truly understand know that "bleeding edge" is an anti-pattern and there's a reason it's called that: it can bleed you as well.

If it ain't broken, don't fix it.

[–] bamboo@lemm.ee -1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

If it ain't broken, don't fix it.

That’s the thing, it is broken and there is a fix desperately needed. C lacks memory safety, which is responsible for many, many security vulnerabilities. And they’re entirely avoidable.

[–] deathmetal27@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

So the solution is to take away any agency the developer may have over how their application allocates memory?

[–] Geodad@lemm.ee 1 points 2 months ago

We’ve already seen a few crotchety old timers who don’t want to add rust to the Linux kernel.

At some point, a complete rewrite of the kernel in a memory safe language would be prudent. Unfortunately, the dinosaurs will have to go extinct before that can happen.

[–] MicrowavedTea@infosec.pub 0 points 2 months ago (2 children)

These tech images are getting pretty ridiculous. What even is this thumbnail?

[–] Deebster@programming.dev 1 points 2 months ago

It's how everyone who's anyone does code reviews!

[–] abbadon420@lemm.ee 1 points 2 months ago

Only ones who knows how to make proper tech images are the folks at O'Reily publisbing