# C's Early Reputation and Its Shift from Assembly

DevFeed: [C's Early Reputation and Its Shift from Assembly](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/was-c-for-hipsters-33409.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://timkellogg.me/blog/2015/02/08/history-of-C>)

Published: 2015-02-08T00:00:00Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Tim Kellogg](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/tim-kellogg.md>)

Topics: [C](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/c.md>), [Assembly](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/assembly.md>), [Compiler](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/compiler.md>), [Programming](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/programming.md>), [gcc](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/gcc.md>)

Tags: [assembly](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/assembly.md>), [c](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/c.md>), [compiler](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/compiler.md>), [gcc](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/gcc.md>), [programming](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/programming.md>)

## AI overview

The article compares early perceptions of C with the criticism JavaScript receives today, drawing on a programmer's recollection of switching from assembly to C. It describes C's higher abstraction level, efficiency trade-offs, and early compiler limitations, including bugs, weak optimization, and an improvement to GCC code size.

## Source excerpt

Last week I came across this tweet: