C is a great language for many reasons. As a second year software dev student C is my favourite language for a couple of reasons.

* It's simplicity is its strong suit. C is often said to be one of the harder languages due to the fact that it is low level. Although I would argue that it is one of hte better languages to start beginners off with. This is because it allows one to write simple code, but have to maintain a level of understanding of the underlying mechanisms of the computing environment. C has very few core elements but those elements come together in a way that is eloquently simple to understand when you know what you are doing (the same could be said about the UNIX development environment :-)). The beauty of C is that once you learn it, the program structure itself enforces good coding practice to maintain readability. And its not a forced trope of the language in a way that python or ruby's is. Mind you I know that one has to _want_ to write clean code when it comes to C, but the fact that you have to carefully analyze each step you make can become a great asset in future programming.

* Another area is that is it is everywhere. I mean you can put a C compiler on a piece of metal. That portability is a leading factor in why it has been around for so many years now. With the new internet of things, I believe embedded devices will still run C as long as embedded devices stand.


As you can see C is one of my favourite language. I love writing code in it to be honest. Don't get me wrong there are tons of great languages out there, but C will always hold a special place in my heart.

Overall its about whats best for the job and what tool you are most comfortable with. I think computing in general is about choice and freedom, so writing software in your favourite language is your own prerogative. I just love being able to read code and peoples thoughts patterns.

As for projects:

https://github.com/rmccullagh/libmutablestring This is a cool small library that is fun to read through. I found it today!

http://cvsweb.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/ This is the OpenBSD repo, any utility they create is always worth a read through.