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What is so bad about C standard library?

4 pointsby stazheralmost 7 years ago
Many HN readers might think this is joke question, but is serious question. &quot;C Standard Library sucks&quot; is almost a gnrd (geeky nerd) meme. But I don&#x27;t get this joke!<p>I am student&#x2F;hobbyist, and I like to study programming languages. C is amazing. Also are some other languages.<p>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&#x27;t reply rtfd, tyvm)<p>Maybe some HN people can post some comments about or links to some references, comparisons, or articles about what sucks in C standard lib.<p>Also please if you know about such please say some alternatives to C standard lib, not in other language, but for use in C.<p>Thank you HN people!

1 comment

nanisalmost 7 years ago
C&#x27;s Standard Library doesn&#x27;t suck, and, in all my decades of programming, I did not hear that statement at all.<p>The standard library just doesn&#x27;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.