> I tend to wonder, in an alternate reality, where the buck stopped at C for systems languages, would we be better off because more people would use it and know how to fix memory related issues?
I think that period has arguably already come and gone. C and C++ have been the most popular systems languages for decades. I think it's clear that mere popularity is not sufficient to produce memory-safe software with those languages. If anything, those languages are experiencing somewhat of a renaissance these days and it's these more recent developments that end up producing improvements with regard to memory safety.
> I just wonder why don’t we just keep using C, C#, and Java? I mean the former two are memory safe, and they can do “unsafe” just like Rust.
Bit of a nitpick, but I think you meant "latter" instead of "former".
That aside, there's more to picking a language to use than just memory safety and the ability to perform "unsafe" operations. Take your pick from more technical reasons (zero-overhead FFI to C, low-level control over data structures/operations/runtime, etc.) and more "soft" reasons (language affordances/features, ecosystem, etc.).
> Another thing: why do we write pseudocode and not design languages to look like pseudocode?
Perhaps COBOL might be what you're looking for? :P
As with many things, language design is full of tradeoffs, particularly when you want to produce something that is not too unfamiliar to a certain audience. IIRC another factor is that languages that want to work well for "experts" will tend to favor different points on the design spectrum. Consider APL-family languages - those are completely incomprehensible to anyone not familiar with them, but that same terseness is highly valued by proficient practitioners and is something pseudocode-like (or even "regular" code-like!) could never replicate.
I think that period has arguably already come and gone. C and C++ have been the most popular systems languages for decades. I think it's clear that mere popularity is not sufficient to produce memory-safe software with those languages. If anything, those languages are experiencing somewhat of a renaissance these days and it's these more recent developments that end up producing improvements with regard to memory safety.
> I just wonder why don’t we just keep using C, C#, and Java? I mean the former two are memory safe, and they can do “unsafe” just like Rust.
Bit of a nitpick, but I think you meant "latter" instead of "former".
That aside, there's more to picking a language to use than just memory safety and the ability to perform "unsafe" operations. Take your pick from more technical reasons (zero-overhead FFI to C, low-level control over data structures/operations/runtime, etc.) and more "soft" reasons (language affordances/features, ecosystem, etc.).
> Another thing: why do we write pseudocode and not design languages to look like pseudocode?
Perhaps COBOL might be what you're looking for? :P
As with many things, language design is full of tradeoffs, particularly when you want to produce something that is not too unfamiliar to a certain audience. IIRC another factor is that languages that want to work well for "experts" will tend to favor different points on the design spectrum. Consider APL-family languages - those are completely incomprehensible to anyone not familiar with them, but that same terseness is highly valued by proficient practitioners and is something pseudocode-like (or even "regular" code-like!) could never replicate.