# How ISO C became unusable for operating systems development

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.07845 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.07845/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 19 Jan 2022.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Project-Level C-to-Rust Translation via Pointer Knowledge Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.10956/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The C programming language was developed in the 1970s as a fairly unconventional systems and operating systems development tool, but has, through the course of the ISO Standards process, added many attributes of more conventional programming languages and become less suitable for operating systems development. Operating system programming continues to be done in non-ISO dialects of C. The differences provide a glimpse of operating system requirements for programming languages.