how relevant is C today?

[Roy Smith]

In article <1144632983.039143.203330 at u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com>,
 "gregarican" <greg.kujawa at gmail.com> wrote:

> Here are a few languages I recommend most programmers should at least
> have a peek at:
> 
> 1) Smalltalk - The original object oriented programming language.
> Influenced anything from Mac/Windows GUI to Java language. Terse, clean
> syntax. IDE rolled into an operating system rolled into a set of core
> libraries.
> 2) Lisp - Along with FORTRAN, one of the oldest programming languages
> still in use. Pure functional programming model that is extensible and
> has many derivatives. Great for mathematical purposes. Easy to learn if
> you can get past all of the nested parenthesis :-)
> 3) C - The "Latin" of modern programming languages. Used in low level
> tasks (e.g. - hardware drivers) as well as larger projects (e.g. -
> operating systems and other programming languages). Logcal, explicit
> flow albeit a bit wordy.
> 
> I have worked in C and Smalltalk for awhile now and just starting to
> pickup Lisp. Knowing different languages can help you approach problems
> with a fresh perspective. I prefer to code in Ruby and Python but can
> use these languages a certain way given the angles I have picked up
> elsewhere...

I would add to that list PostScript.  Most people think of it as just 
format for print files, but it's a a real general-purpose programming 
language, and a cool one at that (with an clear similarity to FORTH).  The 
stack-based paradigm can be a bit mind bending if you're not used to it, 
but bending your mind is the whole point of learning something new.