John Salerno wrote: > Because of my 'novice-ness' in programming, I had always thought that C > was replaced by C++ and wasn't really used anymore today. I know that's > not the case at all now, but I'm still curious how much C is used > anymore in programming today, and what purpose it serves. Is it used for > actual application programming, or is its use more for something like > extending Python? Would it help for a newbie to learn C for any reason?
My impression is that C++ hasn't managed to replace C, and that it isn't used that much for new projects; of course, there is tons of existing C++ code. I think John Ousterhout's distinction of System programming vs. Scripting languages isn't that bad, after all. C is used heavily for System programming, and will not be replaced there for a foreseeable future: operating systems, programming languages, web servers, database servers, etc. OTOH, application programming is done in Java, Python, C#, Ruby, ... C++ is used both for system programming and applications. As for *learning* the languages: never learn a language without a specific inducement. If you know you are going to write a Python extension, an Apache module, or a Linux kernel module in the near future, start learning C today. If you don't know what you want to use it for, learning it might be a waste of time, as you won't know what to look for if you don't have a specific project in mind. Regards, Martin -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
