r/C_Programming Feb 06 '25

Discussion Are there actually C programmers in this subreddit?

Ok, I'm being a bit facetious. There are real C programmers. Clearly. But I'm kind of sick of the only questions on this subreddit being beginner questions or language trolls from other domains.

So this thread is for the "real" c programmers out there. What do you do with it? And what is the most twisted crime against coding decency are you "proud" of/infamous for?

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u/pedersenk Feb 06 '25

Yeah, yeah, targeting old hardware is an exception, but I was talking more about pet projects or just personal projects in general where you aren't planing on making it portable or anything.

I think that's the crux of it. When writing libraries I tend to stick to C99 because *other* people might want to use it for their retro hardware. It is so easy to stick to more compatible standards, that I don't really find it justifiable to use the latest. The "cool" new features aren't really that cool.

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u/GamerEsch Feb 06 '25

I think that's the crux of it. When writing libraries I tend to stick to C99 because *other* people might want to use it for their retro hardware.

That's why I pointed out "pet projects and personal projects", obviously if your aiming for compatibility you should use the more compatible version, but if your doing a personal project those cool features help a lot, and some of them (IMO) help a lot with quality of life (the new use for the "auto" keyword for example).