Skip to content

Comment on Harvard Professor on Why You Should Learn C in 2026 [video]

Comments

C is great for a course on computer architecture. C helps you understand how variables and procedures map to stack frames, how segments map to local and global variables, and how it's all data (i.e., machine code). But it's decidedly not a great first language. Learning linked lists, sort algorithms, memory allocation, etc. in C is for many students a traumatic experience. Far better to introduce these concepts in Python, JavaScript, or C# and then lower them to C.

If learning algorithms in C is a traumatic experience, then you and I have very different definitions of trauma.

Right, if you are not using dictionary definitions of words we define words differently. Though I should have clarified that I meant "Failing to learn linked lists, sort algorithms, memory allocation, etc, ..."

AboutSource Built by g1lg1l

Hackerly is an independent reader for Hacker News, built on the public HN API. Not affiliated with Y Combinator.