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> why are you starting a new C project in 2021?

Why not?



It's unsafe.


And what is safe? C has well defined, tested, and documented specifications which layout exactly how to use C safely. Languages like Rust are more safe but nothing is just safe. If you are an inexperienced developer it is still very easy to write insecure code in Rust.

Sure, moving to safer languages is good. But it is impossible to rule out the use of a language so established that every major operating system is written in it. It is practically impossible to not use C - safe languages are normally bootstrapped by it and eventually your “safe” code will run in an environment programmed in C.


I agree that nothing is fully safe and any developer will alway introduce security vulnerabilities eventually, but history has proven than C is unsafe and generations of very competent developers wrote unsafe C despite documentation to write C safely.


It's pretty fun though. Despite all the problems, I just don't enjoy programming in other languages as much as I enjoy writing C. I've tried C++, Rust, Go, Zig, Javascript, Ruby, Python, Lisp, Lua... I just don't feel as free as I do while writing C.




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