Modern C (C17 / C23)

Overview

ISO C at C17 (2018) and C23 (finalized 2024) — the universal embedded systems language. C23 brings _BitInt, attributes ([[nodiscard]], [[fallthrough]]), typeof, enhanced enum types, and improved Unicode/UTF-8 support. C17 remains the portable baseline supported across virtually every commercial toolchain.

Benefits

• Universal toolchain support across MCUs, vendor SDKs, and OS kernels
• Mature MISRA C:2023 mapping for safety-critical work
• Direct hardware access without runtime overhead
• Decades of debugging, profiling, and analysis tooling

Limitations & Risks

• Lacks memory-safety guarantees Rust and Zig provide
• Undefined behavior and pointer-arithmetic footguns remain
• C23 adoption in conservative vendor toolchains lags GCC/Clang by years

Recommended Actions

Standardize on C17 as the portable baseline for new projects; opt into C23 features incrementally where the compiler supports them (GCC 14+, Clang 18+); use static analysis and sanitizers liberally to compensate for UB risks.

Additional Notes

Most production embedded code is and will remain C — Rust adoption is real but represents a small minority of new projects in 2026. The interesting question is which C dialect; the practical answer is C17 with C23 features adopted as compiler support catches up. Replaces the prior 'Legacy C89/C90' as the active C entry.

References & Links

• https://en.cppreference.com/w/c
• https://www.iso.org/standard/82075.html
• https://www.misra.org.uk/