GoKawiilBlog post catalogs C quirks for programmers coming from Rust
A developer who learned Rust before C published a blog post listing surprising features of the C language, aimed at Rust programmers new to C. Topics include C's historically missing boolean type (added via stdbool.h in C99 and made a true primitive in C23) and its use of null-terminated strings instead of Rust's length-tracked string slices.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The piece highlights how foundational language design choices—like how booleans or strings are represented—can differ sharply between older systems languages like C and newer ones like Rust, which may affect how programmers reason about memory safety and data representation. Such comparisons could help developers moving between the two languages avoid subtle bugs rooted in these historical quirks.
- C lacked a native boolean type until C99 introduced it via the optional stdbool.h header.
- C23 finally makes booleans a true built-in language primitive.
- Unlike Rust's length-tracked string slices, C uses null-terminated strings, a key structural difference for programmers switching languages.
K&R: The C Programming Language book — If you're diving into C after Rust, this is the definitive reference straight from the language's creators, covering exactly the kind of quirky fundamentals this article explores. It's a concise, classic companion for understanding C's idioms, types, and gotchas like the ones discussed here.ollte
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Published there as: “C for Rust programmers”
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