C is on the Verge of Extinction, Thanks to Emerging Modern Langs

C is on the Verge of Extinction, Thanks to Emerging Modern Langs
Published on

If you compare the feature sets of modern languages like C++, Python, and Rust, the C language is starting to look like a grandpa!

C is one of the oldest and most tried languages and according to many young developers, this Programming Language has outlived its usefulness. For programmers, there are more productive ways to develop software. The odds of getting engineers a reliable program to use are significantly better with C#. While C is an expressive and powerful language, letting anyone but very experienced programmers use it is like greasing the floors and letting your programmers run across it with knives. The most likely victims will be schedules and/or code reliability. C is a general-purpose, procedural, middle-level language (as it supports both low-level and high-level functionalities) that was originally developed by Dennis M. Ritchie to foster the UNIX operating system at Bell Labs, C was initially first carried out on the DEC PDP-11 PC in the year 1972.

The programs that make up the operating system are what C programming was initially used for. The code produced in C is nearly as fast as the code written in assembly language, which was adopted as a system development language.

Some examples of the use of C language are- Operating Systems (UNIX Operating System and all UNIX applications), Language Compilers (C Compiler), Assemblers, Text Editors, Print Spoolers, Network Drivers, Modern Programs, Databases, Language Interpreters, and Utilities.

Retiring C continues to look tempting, but there are several problems with just moving away from C. First, C is a great language for low-level procedural applications that run close to the hardware. It's compact, efficient, and still holds various advantages that are as follows:

As a middle-level language, C combines the features of both high-level and low-level languages. It can be used for low-level programming, such as scripting for drivers and kernels and it also supports functions of high-level programming languages, such as scripting for software applications, etc.

C is a structured programming language that allows a complex program to be broken into simpler programs called functions. It also allows the free movement of data across these functions.

Various features of C including direct access to machine level hardware APIs, the presence of C compilers, deterministic resource use, and dynamic memory allocation make C language an optimum choice for scripting applications and drivers of embedded systems.

C language is case-sensitive which means lowercase and uppercase letters are treated differently.

C is a general-purpose programming language and can efficiently work on enterprise applications, games, graphics, and applications requiring calculations, etc.

C language has a rich library that provides a number of built-in functions. It also offers dynamic memory allocation.

C implements algorithms and data structures swiftly, facilitating faster computations in programs. This has enabled the use of C in applications requiring higher degrees of calculations like MATLAB and Mathematica.

5 programming languages that might extinct along with the C language

Visual Basic

Visual Basic is an old language, which initially appeared on the scene in 1991. As the notion goes, the older technologies are meant to die, Visual Basic is well on its way to passing from sight. And also, Microsoft stopped supporting Visual Basic long back. The reason for its decline in popularity charts also maybe, a newer version, Visual Basic .NET, which is also an object-oriented programming language.

CoffeeScript

Codementor.io an online coding community-ranked CoffeeScript among the lowest in 2019 itself. Its Facebook community no longer exists and ranks at the bottom among other programming languages for Freenode IRC, Twitter, GitHub, etc. It has also remained the least popular subreddit on the website. In view of all these conditions, it seems it doesn't hold much prospect for serious programmers.

Ruby

Through this web application's popularity surging in the early 2000s, it has come down in its popularity charts quickly. The reasons for its decline include issues with scalability, lower run-time, and incompatibility with other languages. Big companies like Twitter abandoned Ruby for other languages which offer easier expansion and lower long-term costs. If not immediate future, it will definitely be in danger in the long term.

Perl

Once regarded as the go-to language for web development, was listed among the top 10 in the TOIBE index. Of late it has declined to 18 in the rankings. The possible reason for its decline can be the popularity of Python which lies in the same programming domain. According to experts, it can quickly diminish, cornered with few remaining patrons, if it cannot find new users.

COBOL

COBOL which stands for Common business-oriented language is primarily used in business, finance, and administrative systems for batch and transactional processing jobs. If you have an idea of the scale at which companies are migrating to the cloud, it is suggested to forget to think about COBOL. It is very much possible that COBOL will be a redundant language in the coming 10 years.

Join our WhatsApp Channel to get the latest news, exclusives and videos on WhatsApp

                                                                                                       _____________                                             

Disclaimer: Analytics Insight does not provide financial advice or guidance. Also note that the cryptocurrencies mentioned/listed on the website could potentially be scams, i.e. designed to induce you to invest financial resources that may be lost forever and not be recoverable once investments are made. You are responsible for conducting your own research (DYOR) before making any investments. Read more here.

Related Stories

No stories found.
logo
Analytics Insight
www.analyticsinsight.net