C used to be a high-level language.
o1 Pro.iconConclusion: It is generally true that "C was once (when it first appeared) considered a high-level language. Commentary:.
When the C language (1970s) was first created, assembly language and machine language were mainly used, and it was positioned as a "high-level language" with a higher level of abstraction than those languages.
Today, languages with higher abstraction than C are more common and are sometimes called relatively "intermediate" or "low-level" languages, but at the time, they were treated as high-level languages. The following reference is an example of a description of how C was regarded as a "high-level language" in 1972 compared to traditional assembly language and machine language.
"The Development of the C Language" by Dennis M. Ritchie (Communications of the ACM, 1978)
The paper describes the origins and design philosophy of the C language, and emphasizes the point that the early C language is more abstract than the traditional low-level languages (assembly language and machine language), i.e., its aspect as a "high-level language". Although the paper itself was published in 1978, the content directly reflects the state of design and development of the C language in 1972
Bell Laboratories Internal Documents (circa 1972)
Internal Bell Labs documents from that time state that C was developed to overcome the shortcomings of B and was positioned as a "high-level" systems programming language that offered a higher level of abstraction and portability versus traditional methods that required low-level assembly operations. These internal documents are difficult to obtain as direct public documents, but background is provided in later technical history literature and retrospective articles (e.g., Ritchie's paper). These references provide evidence that C was intended as a "high-level language" that was more abstract and had better maintainability and portability in an environment where assembly language and machine language were already the norm when it was introduced in 1972. ---
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