in what field is C used the most?

[Servé Lau]

in what fields of computing is C used the most nowadays?

embedded, scientific, applications? What?

 

[Jan Engelhardt]

in what fields of computing is C used the most nowadays?

embedded, scientific, applications? What?

In all three. Not sure what you directly mean by embedded.

 

[Robert Stankowic]

in what fields of computing is C used the most nowadays?

embedded, scientific, applications? What?

Yes

 

[Servé Lau]

in what fields of computing is C used the most nowadays?

embedded, scientific, applications? What?

What isn't clear about the question?

 

[Mike Wahler]

in what fields of computing is C used the most nowadays?

bitfields.

-Mike

 

[Malcolm]

in what fields of computing is C used the most nowadays?

embedded, scientific, applications? What?

C is such a general-purpose language that it's hard to give an answer.

It is used quite a lot for general PC applications, but is losing out to
C++. Ditto for games. However you will often see a large portion of a "C++"
application written in C or the C subset of C++.

Fortran is a competitor for scientific applications, as is COBOL for
business programing. However you will still see a substantial proportion of
these programs written in C.

Short utilities are very often written in C - for instance during
development of a game you will typically need programs to package images
into 1024 * 1024 collages, to compress files, to add or take away black
borders, and so on. This sort of thing is typically done in C.

Small embedded applications are almost always written in C if a high-level
language is used at all.

I wouldn't like to say which area is used "the most".

 

[osmium]

What isn't clear about the question?

I don't see *anything* clear about the question. What does "most" mean?
Produces the most revenue? Produces the most copies? The most legal
copies? As I understand the question, the answer, if you could get one,
seems of marginal usefulness.

It suggests that a scientific program isn't an application. I certainly
can't answer, but if I were to ask a *somewhat* similar question it would be
along the lines of "In what fields is C the dominant language?". With no
examples. This allows answers such as games, movie special effects,
accounting, microwave ovens, whatever. The way you posed it suggests to me
that you want to fit the answers into some preconceived slots you have in
your mind. But we can't see all the slots, only the three you mentioned.

 

[Eric Boutin]

C is such a general-purpose language that it's hard to give an answer.

It is used quite a lot for general PC applications, but is losing out to
C++. Ditto for games. However you will often see a large portion of a "C++"
application written in C or the C subset of C++.

Fortran is a competitor for scientific applications, as is COBOL for
business programing. However you will still see a substantial proportion of
these programs written in C.

Short utilities are very often written in C - for instance during
development of a game you will typically need programs to package images
into 1024 * 1024 collages, to compress files, to add or take away black
borders, and so on. This sort of thing is typically done in C.

Small embedded applications are almost always written in C if a high-level
language is used at all.

well since most UNIX'es and it's whole API are written in C, since windows
use a C API and a MFC API in C++, since OpenGL is natively in C, then that
means 90+% of windows program are written in C/C++, and a lot of UNIX
program are written in C, including most kernel.

We cannot tell in which area of the industry it is the mostly massively
used, however IMHO I can say that C program are rarely employed in web
application, where PHP
is massively used there, it's less often employed by the Solaris developper,
exept for the kernel, since solaris developper tends to use their java
platform; C is also becoming less employed in light scientifics application,
where maple and mathematica gains in popularity. However there's no general
use for C.. PHP was designed to be used as a web langage, like javascript;
java was designed to be ultra portable, C was designed.. to be more
portable and easy to write than assembly, but as flexible, therefore with
that much flexibility, you can do anything you want with C and everyone
knows it

-Eric

 

[Thomas Matthews]

in what fields of computing is C used the most nowadays?

embedded, scientific, applications? What?

How would you classify an embbeded processor used for
a scientific application?

This is such a general question that you would have
to survey many, many people and ask them if they
use the C language and what their application is.

The group at Embbeded Systems magazine has taken
many surveys and found that more embedded processors
are sold than destop processors. However, one
doesn't know the language used to program them all.
Anyway, check them out at:
http://www.embedded.com

On the other hand, why does one need to know
what fields of computing use the C language?
Projects should use the language best suited for
the application. However, many applications use
the "house language" because many people know
that language, and it may be faster to develop
a product (application) using a known language
rather than an obtuse one that is better suited.

I'm curious as to what you intend to do with
the answer to your question.

--
Thomas Matthews

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Other sites:
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[SL]

I'm curious as to what you intend to do with
the answer to your question.

You're right, the question was too general.

The story's like this:
I really like programming in C and I have been looking for a job as a C
programmer for over a year now. I think I have a good idea now what about
what skills are in demand (yes I know, C skills are really useful, but
tell that to a .NET manager)
The problem is that most jobs I can find with C in it also have the word
"embedded" in it.

But when you look at C99 you see a lot of improvements for scientific
computing and almost nothing for embedded. That seems a bit strange to me,
because there'll be a small number of people using the scientific
functionality. That's why I wanted to know in what fields C is used the
most. Maybe I should've said "what kind of jobs ask specifically for C
skills"

BTW
I even encountered a manager who thought I forgot to put the '#' after the C
in my resume!

 

[dave johnstone]

well since most UNIX'es and it's whole API are written in C, since windows
use a C API and a MFC API in C++, since OpenGL is natively in C, then that
means 90+% of windows program are written in C/C++, and a lot of UNIX
program are written in C, including most kernel.

We cannot tell in which area of the industry it is the mostly massively
used, however IMHO I can say that C program are rarely employed in web
application, where PHP
is massively used there, it's less often employed by the Solaris developper,
exept for the kernel, since solaris developper tends to use their java
platform; C is also becoming less employed in light scientifics application,
where maple and mathematica gains in popularity. However there's no general
use for C.. PHP was designed to be used as a web langage, like javascript;
java was designed to be ultra portable, C was designed.. to be more
portable and easy to write than assembly, but as flexible, therefore with
that much flexibility, you can do anything you want with C and everyone
knows it

-Eric

I am new to c, but your thread seemed an appropriate
place to ask a couple of questions.

Is c an environment that has the need for converting
a text interface of an application, into a browser/GUI
interface? Or are applications written in c not the
type that require such treatment? That is, do commercial
business applications get written in c?

Sorry if this is out of context.

Sincerely,
Dave Johnstone. (Ph: 519-571-1531 - Canada)
HTML and Pixieware the new GUI for PICK
http://www.pixieware.com mailto:[email protected]

 

[Randy Howard]

You're right, the question was too general.

The story's like this:
I really like programming in C and I have been looking for a job as a C
programmer for over a year now. I think I have a good idea now what about
what skills are in demand

Well, as you say, embedded applications widely use C, although it isn't
the only thing used. Some crazy folks even try to use C++ on them.

(yes I know, C skills are really useful, but tell that to a .NET manager)

I would never speak to a .NET manager, so I'm unlikely to have the
opportunity.

The problem is that most jobs I can find with C in it also have the word
"embedded" in it.

Try looking for Linux, UNIX, etc. A tremendous amount of development
of code to implement, or support those operating systems is written
in C.

But when you look at C99 you see a lot of improvements for scientific
computing and almost nothing for embedded.

Embedded doesn't usually have much to do with "standard" C. Most
embedded compilers need to implement platform specific magic
incantations that aren't including in the standard. Look up the
meaning of a "hosted" implementation.

That seems a bit strange to me, because there'll be a small number
of people using the scientific functionality.

Really? Although FORTRAN is still very widely used, I'd venture
that quite a bit of mathematics and science computing is done in
C and/or C++ these days. YMMV.

Maybe I should've said "what kind of jobs ask specifically for C
skills"

Device drivers, OS internals, utility development, embedded, anything
that needs to run "close to the hardware", etc. I tend to shy away
from job postings that specify a specific implementation language,
as they are usually short-term (from short-minded manglers).

BTW
I even encountered a manager who thought I forgot to put the '#'
after the C in my resume!

Well then. Now you know why some people are in management instead
of development. I hope you found a reason to excuse yourself from
that interview early, unless you just wanted to practice your
interviewing technique on a moron.

 

[Malcolm]

Is c an environment that has the need for converting
a text interface of an application, into a browser/GUI
interface? Or are applications written in c not the
type that require such treatment? That is, do commercial
business applications get written in c?

You've got to distinguish between the C language proper and the ANSI
library. The ANSI library is designed to be portable and thus tends to treat
IO as text streams.
As you will see on another thread, this model isn't very suitable for
business type programs, which generally use a GUI. Virtually all GUIs
provide a C interface, which means that you can write a graphical program in
C, but not by restricting yourself to the ANSI library.
Most of the business applications you use everyday are probably written
either in C or C++.

 

[glen herrmannsfeldt]

SL wrote:

(someone wrote)

You're right, the question was too general.

The story's like this:
I really like programming in C and I have been looking for a job as a C
programmer for over a year now. I think I have a good idea now what about
what skills are in demand (yes I know, C skills are really useful, but
tell that to a .NET manager)
The problem is that most jobs I can find with C in it also have the word
"embedded" in it.

C, as opposed to C++, or a few other languages, can have a relatively
small overhead in terms of required library routines and the size of
generated code, and so works well in embedded applications that
otherwise would need to be done in assembler.

Some Numerical analysis work is done in C, at least enough to allow the
publication of "Numerical Recipes in C", but much is still done in
Fortran. For those jobs, you might be expected to know Fortran, even
if you did all your coding in C.

Low level systems programming, device drivers and OS kernels, are still
reasonably likely to be done in C, but one should probably know how to
code assembler for the specific processor.

Much high-level applications programming is now done in other languages,
such as Object oriented languages like C++ and Java. There is also
Visual BASIC in there somewhere.

I would say that currently C is best for programs that need to be fast
and efficient working with bits or characters, or even larger integers,
but not usually floating point. Pattern matching, searching and
sorting, cryptography, data compression, low level graphics programming,
are some of the applications that I can think of that fit those
requirements.

-- glen

 

[E. Robert Tisdale]

In what fields of computing is C used the most nowadays?

Legacy software maintenance.

Programmers use C++ for new program development.

 

[Keith Thompson]

Legacy software maintenance.

Programmers use C++ for new program development.

Nonsense, as usual.

 

[Richard Heathfield]

Legacy software maintenance.

This is unlikely to be true. I've been working as a C developer for most of
the last 14 years, and I've spent very little of that time maintaining
legacy software. In fact, only the Y2K silliness springs to mind. By far
the majority of my time has been spent developing new software - in C.

Programmers use C++ for new program development.

And C. And Ada. And Smalltalk. And Basic. And C#. And Lithp. And no doubt
many dozens of other languages. Here, we talk about C. If you wish to
advocate C++, try a C++ advocacy group.

 

[Malcolm]

Legacy software maintenance.

That's a very important application, and also tends to be well-paid.

Programmers use C++ for new program development.

It is also very common to see programs written in a hybrid of C and C++.
There are many reasons for this. One of the major ones is that academic
writers tend to publish routines in C or another procedural language. If you
are including these routines it makes sense to use C or the C subset of C++.
So it is still necessary to be au fait with C programming, even if the whole
program isn't written in C.

 

[Jack Klein]

in what fields of computing is C used the most nowadays?

embedded, scientific, applications? What?

Computer programming, you ninny.

--
Jack Klein
Home: http://JK-Technology.Com
FAQs for
comp.lang.c http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html
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[Erik de Castro Lopo]

Legacy software maintenance.

Programmers use C++ for new program development.

Most people strive for being correct 100% of the time. Why
is that you seem to try for incorrect 100% of the time?

Erik