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What is so bad about C standard library?

by stazher on 6/17/18, 1:22 AM with 1 comments

Many HN readers might think this is joke question, but is serious question. "C Standard Library sucks" is almost a gnrd (geeky nerd) meme. But I don't get this joke!

I am student/hobbyist, and I like to study programming languages. C is amazing. Also are some other languages.

Many times, when I study about !C languages, I see them say things about how XYZlang has much better standard lib than C, and they assume everybody knows how bad is C standard lib, but they never provide any specific references. (Please don't reply rtfd, tyvm)

Maybe some HN people can post some comments about or links to some references, comparisons, or articles about what sucks in C standard lib.

Also please if you know about such please say some alternatives to C standard lib, not in other language, but for use in C.

Thank you HN people!

  • by nanis on 6/17/18, 1:47 AM

    C's Standard Library doesn't suck, and, in all my decades of programming, I did not hear that statement at all.

    The standard library just doesn't give you much. Things have gotten better with C99 and C11, but there are many things that every day programming depends on but are not covered by the C standard library. Simplest example: Traversing the filesystem. You can easily come up with other examples.