Has c programming become obsolete?

Question

Should i bother to learn c programming at all? I do not see it in Visual Express Studio 2013, also there is nothing on c programming in windows 8.

Answer 1

C is not obsolete. A lot of the big universities that are known for computer science start off with C/C++. C is still used in big programs because it is compiled, which makes it fast. Interpreted languages (Python, Java, etc) just can't deliver the same level performance needed in very large programs compared to compiled programs.



You don't exactly have to do C, but you'll want to use a C language. I would recommend C or C++, maybe C# or Objective-C. There are also some topics in C languages that are done automatically in other languages, such as pointers. Understanding pointers will be a great benefit.



Here are some programs that are written in C, C++, Objective-C:

Microsoft Office - C++

Android OS - C(core), C++, Java(UI)

Microsoft Windows - Assembly, C, C++

iOS - C, C++, Objective-C

And most Linux distros were written in C.

Answer 2

I think it depends on what your motivation for learning it would be. It's becoming less common to write new programs in C, but if you intend to become a professional programmer, learning C could be useful for understanding some lower-level mechanisms without the overhead of C (also, it's possible to end up working on legacy code written in C).



Also, Visual Studio does support C, although it's under the Visual C++ component.

Answer 3

C is still there, and MS is supposedly even upgrading their C support to C99 in VS2014 (finally!)



To make a C project in Visual Studio, simply make a standard C++ project, but in the Application Setting dialog, check Empty Project and then add a "C++ source file (.cpp)" but give the file a .c suffix.



Everything but the .c suffix is what you need to do to get a standard C++ source, without MS-specific things like stdafx.h and tmain().



MS has been pushing toward doing everything in .NET (which still doesn't have all of what WinAPI supports, even 12 years later) so both C and C++ are not ideal for Windows development. There is a .NET version of C++, but with C# around, why bother with a dialect of C++ that is neither portable nor compiled to machine code?



C is still quite relevant to Unix and GNU-based system like Linux and FreeBSD. Every such system is guaranteed to have a C compiler installed and C is still the "main" language for packages distributed in source form. It's a fine alternative to assembly and not bad for projects up O(100,000) lines of code.



Until MS comes through with a modern version of the language, though, MinGW is a better compiler for C under Windows. The Code::Blocks IDE makes it easy to use, too.

Answer 4

And, to add in on the concept of 'C isn't obsolete', let's all remember the embedded compilers that come out for various families of microcontrollers. Without a real foundation in C, you won't get many good jobs coding embedded programs for cell phones, robotics, medical devices, NASA, etc. And the final nail in the obsolete coffin, C++ is still based on C and C is perfectly good C++ code when properly written and compiled to a matching standard.

Answer 5

Windows 7, Windows 8, MS Excel, Linux, Python, Python,PhP, World of Warcraft, parts of all the major browsers are all written partly in C



http://stackoverflow.com/questions/580292/what-languages-are-windows-mac-os-x-and-linux-written-in



Harvard uses C in their Introduction to Computer Science course

https://cs50.harvard.edu/lectures



C is nowhere near obsolete

Answer 6

As you can see from the link below, C is still the most popular language in the world. Mainly for legacy reasons.

Answer 7

Don't learn C. Learn Objective C or C# or Java.



If you want something that is old but not too old, learn C++