I'm still not convinced that there's anything particularly magical about C here. Reliable programs are written by people who: * understand the problem domain

I'm still not convinced that there's anything particularly magical about C here. Reliable programs are written by people who: * understand the problem domain * know the implementation language and its supporting library * pay attention to detail Admittedly, some languages fit some problem domains better than others, but 90% of the time, picking the language you're personally most familiar with will be as good a choice as any.