Thou shalt have no other gods before the ANSI C standard 1415

D. J. Bernstein

I've been programming for twice as long, and some of my code (or code derived from it) can be found in almost every hosted system. My best-known "product" was crucial in bringing together the warring variants of Unix, and I contributed substantially to the development of standards for POSIX and C. In the course of a couple of decades working on the C standard, as well through my own involvement in software projects, I've learned an immense amount about the ways in which computing environments can and do vary.

Widespread deployment is no proof of quality, security, or portability. That's so obvious that I don't need to give examples.

I don't expect to convince *you* of anything, but I was reviewing technical articles and books on software engineering and portability before you even started programming, and wrote three chapters about portable programming practices in a book published several years ago. (I also wrote a column for the JCLT.) I've been a key participant in several large software system development projects that served for many years (some are still in use) at the heart of several organizations' core business.

If you actually wanted to learn something, you might try listening to people who have substantial relevant experience.