[Info-vax] Viable versus ideal programming languages

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 3/21/2022 2:46 PM, Simon Clubley wrote:
> On 2022-03-19, abrsvc <dansabrservices at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> I have used some of the mentioned languages for some projects with
>> success.  I suppose that the point I am making too is that the
>> correct languages should also fit the problem.  Using JAVA for
>> example to solve numerical problems makes no sense.  FORTRAN is
>> ideal for such things. (I know, Simon will say that C is too...).
>> Just because a language is new and is all the rage, does not mean
>> that it is the right choice. >
> Actually Dan, no, I most certainly would _not_ say that.
> 
> I would say that C is a _viable_ programming language in that case,
> but I would not say that it is an _ideal_ programming language.
> 
> You may end up using something that is viable but is not your preferred
> language. This could be due to language availability across multiple
> environments, the ability of the language to be easily called from
> other languages, etc.
> 
> This is especially important when you are writing library code for
> example. Consider that I can write a portable library in C, and I can
> then compile it unchanged on VMS, Linux/FreeBSD/Unix, Windows, embedded
> operating systems, bare metal ARM/MIPS/etc, and even 8/16-bit MCUs if
> the library is small enough.
> 
> I can then easily call that C library from a wide range of languages
> running on those multiple operating systems and environments. The language
> also allows me to create code that runs both in kernel mode and user mode.
> 
> Name one other programming language that allows me to do all that.

C compilers are available on most platforms.

But how many percent of C programs are written so that they
are actually guaranteed to work with all ISO compliant C compilers?

Arne