Talk:C (programming language)

Order of sentences in the opening paragraph

Is there a good reason why the opening paragraph starts with “commonly in …” then one “decreasingly in …” then more “commonly in …”? I found this order slightly confusing. Osalbahr (talk) 01:39, 31 May 2022 (UTC)

It's likely imperfect, as you identify. WP:DIY. Then perhaps WP:BRD or perhaps subsequent changes if your edits don't quite hit the mark. Chumpih ^t 21:24, 31 May 2022 (UTC)

popularity contests

A recent edit confuses popularity (a weakly-defined, subjective term) with widely-used. Sources such as the two most recently proposed are unconvincing TEDickey (talk) 22:05, 1 August 2022 (UTC)

I consider that the newly added claim ("though decreasingly") has no place in the lead: it only makes it longer by stating a dubious and unsourced perception. Blog sources shouldn't even be considered, per WP:RS. The article, and in particular its opening paragraph, should describe the language throughout its entire existence, not "C nowadays" or "C in recent years", per MOS:RELTIME. Fbergo (talk) 22:26, 1 August 2022 (UTC)

so perhaps we could have previously for application development ? Point being that there doesn't appear to be evidence to suggest that C remains widespread for that purpose, former glories notwithstanding. Chumpih ^t 22:58, 1 August 2022 (UTC)

"It has found lasting use in operating systems, device drivers, protocol stacks, and application software". Lasting refers to the duration of usage of the language in each software product/project, not that the use is widespread or prevalent. GIMP, the open source graphics editor, is written and maintained in C since 1998. GIMP alone serves as refutation to "C is no longer used for application development" or "C found use for application development in the past, but not recently", even though many other examples certainly exist, but are hard to track as most commercial applications do not advertise or expose their programming language. Fbergo (talk) 23:41, 1 August 2022 (UTC)

Well, it's a good point: GIMP desktop application project started 24 years ago did indeed choose C as the implementation language, and that application has proven excellent and popular. And prior to Visual C++ (1993) a lot of significant Windows application programming was done Petzold style, using C almost exclusively. Here's the thing - for device drivers, protocol stacks, operating systems, embedded systems, utilities, C remains a solid player; for applications, not so much. We should differentiate - hence some language like formerly in applications or decreasingly in applications when noting C's use in these fields. And that includes applications on web, mobile, desktop, smart TV. There are a few areas where C remains popular for applications, e.g. Automotive, and yes, GIMP is glorious. But they're in the minority. Nobody is stating "C is no longer used for application development", but C's use in applications has decreased massively since the 1990's. Even Qt is in C++. Some evidence on language choice for contemporary development is here. Chumpih ^t 06:09, 15 August 2022 (UTC)

@Tedickey: It's not certain that widely used is a well-defined term, either. The 'popularity' measure from Tiobe is a well-recognised attempt to show the trends in program language momentum / traction / funding or whatever. Now, here's the problem: any statistic can be questioned. For example, Git hub languages trends for pull requests is only for open-source, or it's too web-specific, or it's just for hobbyists. Recent links that show C absent from 'popular language for desktop application development' are deemed unsubstantive. So to turn this on its head, is any information available to show that C remains comparatively popular for application development? Chumpih ^t 22:50, 1 August 2022 (UTC)

Reliable sources are verifiable. Adding comments which are not verifiable doesn't go in the right direction. TEDickey (talk) 07:47, 18 August 2022 (UTC)

Hmmm. Wise words. So where does that leave us? Chumpih ^t 08:21, 18 August 2022 (UTC)

"C(programming language)" listed at Redirects for discussion

An editor has identified a potential problem with the redirect C(programming language) and has thus listed it for discussion. This discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2022 August 16#C(programming language) until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. Steel1943 (talk) 21:09, 16 August 2022 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for speedy deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for speedy deletion:

• 1999 ISO C.pdf

You can see the reason for deletion at the file description page linked above. —Community Tech bot (talk) 19:08, 18 August 2022 (UTC)