Moderately OT and definitely not about Perl. You've been warned.

It has been over a decade since I hacked C. As a result, I don't remember any of it. Oh, I can read through C code and get a general idea and still kind of recall pointers, but that's about it. Still can't recall how to use malloc for example. So, I decided to look at a local university for C classes. They didn't appear to have any, but their online catalog is, um, less than clear about what they do have.

I went ahead and called down to the university and a receptionist thought that they offered C, but wasn't sure. She would have someone call me back. Someone did call me back and identified himself as the head of their computer science department (at least, that's what I recall from the conversation, but I could be mistaken). I was informed that not only did PSU not offer C, they would not be offering it in the future because "C is obsolete". I was informed that the world of computing is moving to Object Oriented languages and PSU will only be teaching those skills that prepare students for the future.

Since I have some friends who are college professors, I hesitate to say "Ivory Tower", but the thought does cross my mind. Claiming that "C is obsolete" ¹ and that the future belongs to OO languages strikes me as more than a little absurd.

Cheers,
Ovid

1. Obligatory Perl reference: I guess that means Perl is written in an obsolete language, eh?

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