Back then I was using AutoHotkey for most stuff (before it was the hot shit it is now, before gamers knew about it). With the switch to Linux I needed something and that’s when I learned about Python 2 in 2008. I do lot of stuff in Bash too nowadays.

Python is really not hard to learn or use. The only awkward thing it has to me is, the logic and grouping of code is indentation based… Python even comes by default with Linux, and similar to Bash you just need the #!/usr/bin/env python3 and can use the entire language and its features like Bash is using the commandline tools. I highly recommend to learn some basics of Python, because this will be useful for the rest of your life. Even if you don’t end up writing yourself much, you can read and confirm others code are not doing stupid stuff or make changes as you wish.

#!/usr/bin/env python3

print("hello world")

I thought the title of this post was a joke. How is C a Hidden Gem (or Gold)? C won’t die, its like the portable Assembler of the entire computing and programming languages. Newer languages can do some things easier and better, and more secure (yes I’m talking about Rust). Or if you do not need low level access and just want to create a simple application, nothing is wrong by using a more high level and garbage collected language too. In such cases its better than C for the specific person.

Use the right tool for the right job.

they will all be “replacements for C

Don’t think in terms of replacements, but in terms of additional tools to have. In example in the Linux Kernel Rust won’t replace C, but is added as an additional way to program. Especially if we talk about C, as it is the backbone of everything. That’s exactly how you should look at it in my opinion. For literally any other language, you can make arguments of “replacing” it, because none else is the backbone of everything. And I’m not even a C programmer and prefer Rust and Python.

My first programming language book I read was about C in early 2000s, the Kernighan and Ritchie one in fact. But never programmed anything else than some exercises. I begun way tooo late to learn and do something with real languages unfortunately, as focused on scripting and some other languages for temporary usage.

You’re not supposed to marry one.

Programming languages are like girlfriends: If you are clever, then you can have multiple at the same time. But there is nothing wrong in marrying a language, if you think she is the right one for the rest of your life. She © is pretty often used and known, and everyone can share experiences with her. C can do a lot, she is just a little bit oldschool. And if it turns out to be a mess, you can always divorce and replace her with something else.

AI

I think predictive text predates even Android and smartphones (but not exactly), when we had to press a key 3 times until specific characters appeared; called T9 and just a dictionary. Having or not having a dictionary suggestion was the difference between life and death. Now the modern smartphone has way more compute power and resources, therefore they can analyze text in more depth. It’s just the logical next step to the plain and simple dictionary.

Is that really the case? Would everything one type to the keyboard be send to the companies and used as training data for AI? Does that any keyboard at all on the smartphone?