   C      is quirky,     flawed,        and   an
enormous   success.          Although  accidents of     history
 surely  helped,      it  evidently     satisfied   a     need

     for   a    system   implementation        language     efficient
   enough    to    displace            assembly      language,
      yet sufficiently       abstract     and  fluent        to describe
     algorithms    and      interactions     in a    wide       variety
  of environments.
