Por of this is what I would describe as a self-fulfilling prophecy effect. C is hard. You can't use it without thought or you'll create code that is excellent at crashing entire systems. Given that current CS instruction graduates "OO-first" high-level-of-abstraction developers, it is only natural that the tools and frameworks they create start at that level, rather than a lower level that requires more work, design and planning.
One of my professors used to pound this idea that you should not write one line of code until you have devoted enough time to structural design and, more importantly, data representation. Of course, I am going back to a time when none of the modern languages existed. My choices at the time were assembler, Forth, C or APL. I won't even mention COBOL or FORTRAN as they were never part of my reality.
Today people think nothing of having functions create and pass entire objects, dictionaries and other complex data structures that consume memory, time and energy (in very real terms, Python requires nearly 80 times more energy to do the same thing when compared to C).
As this "contagion" doesn't seem to have an end in sight, CS reality today and in the future will move away from fast, space, time and energy efficient languages like C.
The energy component is something I have been more aware of over time as we start to become more concerned with carbon neutrality and related issues of climate change. While Python is great for what I am going to call "lazy" programming (you don't have to give it any of the thought required in C or C++) it is objectively terrible in terms of execution time, memory footprint and energy consumption. Do we want a world dominated by Python applications? At a large scale you would need more computers --lots more-- energy and resources to do the same things that could be done with more efficient options.
How many CS graduates come out of school with almost a Python-first education? Not to go too far, my own son, MS CS, spent nearly no time at all with assembler, Forth, C and C++ in school. It was crap like Java and utility like Python. Everything is worth learning, of course, but, give me a break. Thankfully he chose to listen to me and invested time and effort getting good at low-level programming. His first job out of school working for a very good company was C/C++ centric and he did great. Most of his school friends could not have landed that job.
To be clear. I am not opposed to reaching for a variety of languages. I have. I still do. What I do not do is blame a language for problems of design, logic and engineering I create. The language isn't the problem. It never is. I am the problem.
To beat it to death: It's like blaming a welding machine for making bad welds. So long as you don't have a truly horrible machine, someone with proper welding skills can make good welds.
I learned this one the hard way actually. I have a Miller 130XP MIG welder. It's a very basic entry-level 120 VAC MIG welder. I could not make a good weld to save my life. Believe me, I tried. I watched videos, practiced, even got some instruction. I sucked.
When I built my solar array I had to weld a number of custom brackets for the ground mount structure. Not trusting my capabilities I asked a professional welder I knew to do the welding. When he came over he saw my 130XP there and say "I'll just use your machine". He had monster machines in his truck. He proceeded to make stunningly good welds with a machine I was convinced was total crap. I could not believe my eyes.
I eventually took college-level classes on welding and got massively better. I can make good welds with that little machine now, because I know what I am doing. And, yes, I later bought a more efficient modern inverter-based ESAB machine. The new machine wasn't going to make me a good welder. Blaming the machine was the wrong mental framework.
One of my professors used to pound this idea that you should not write one line of code until you have devoted enough time to structural design and, more importantly, data representation. Of course, I am going back to a time when none of the modern languages existed. My choices at the time were assembler, Forth, C or APL. I won't even mention COBOL or FORTRAN as they were never part of my reality.
Today people think nothing of having functions create and pass entire objects, dictionaries and other complex data structures that consume memory, time and energy (in very real terms, Python requires nearly 80 times more energy to do the same thing when compared to C).
As this "contagion" doesn't seem to have an end in sight, CS reality today and in the future will move away from fast, space, time and energy efficient languages like C.
The energy component is something I have been more aware of over time as we start to become more concerned with carbon neutrality and related issues of climate change. While Python is great for what I am going to call "lazy" programming (you don't have to give it any of the thought required in C or C++) it is objectively terrible in terms of execution time, memory footprint and energy consumption. Do we want a world dominated by Python applications? At a large scale you would need more computers --lots more-- energy and resources to do the same things that could be done with more efficient options.
How many CS graduates come out of school with almost a Python-first education? Not to go too far, my own son, MS CS, spent nearly no time at all with assembler, Forth, C and C++ in school. It was crap like Java and utility like Python. Everything is worth learning, of course, but, give me a break. Thankfully he chose to listen to me and invested time and effort getting good at low-level programming. His first job out of school working for a very good company was C/C++ centric and he did great. Most of his school friends could not have landed that job.
To be clear. I am not opposed to reaching for a variety of languages. I have. I still do. What I do not do is blame a language for problems of design, logic and engineering I create. The language isn't the problem. It never is. I am the problem.
To beat it to death: It's like blaming a welding machine for making bad welds. So long as you don't have a truly horrible machine, someone with proper welding skills can make good welds.
I learned this one the hard way actually. I have a Miller 130XP MIG welder. It's a very basic entry-level 120 VAC MIG welder. I could not make a good weld to save my life. Believe me, I tried. I watched videos, practiced, even got some instruction. I sucked.
When I built my solar array I had to weld a number of custom brackets for the ground mount structure. Not trusting my capabilities I asked a professional welder I knew to do the welding. When he came over he saw my 130XP there and say "I'll just use your machine". He had monster machines in his truck. He proceeded to make stunningly good welds with a machine I was convinced was total crap. I could not believe my eyes.
I eventually took college-level classes on welding and got massively better. I can make good welds with that little machine now, because I know what I am doing. And, yes, I later bought a more efficient modern inverter-based ESAB machine. The new machine wasn't going to make me a good welder. Blaming the machine was the wrong mental framework.