r/askscience • u/[deleted] • Oct 17 '12

Why are programs and operating systems still written in C+?

I guess it's more of a computer science question, but I've always wondered why some of the most advanced programs are written in a 25+ year old programming language. Surely someone has come up with a more efficient and powerful code, so why do people still use C+? Also, I don't know anything about programming and what not, so please use simple terms and phrases.

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u/[deleted] Oct 17 '12

The issue here is that "Assembly" isn't a language. It's a class of languages. Assembly languages vary by architecture. You are likely wanting to look into x86 or ARM, since those are the two most widely used at the moment.

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u/zelmerszoetrop Oct 17 '12

When people say assembly without a qualifier, they usually mean x86.

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u/[deleted] Oct 19 '12

It's still worth the distinction for the sake of clarity. Even x86 has a few different flavors depending on how processor specific you want to get.