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How I program C

Eskil Steenberg · talk · Watch on YouTube

C, C++, Rust, Go & systems languagesSoftware architecture & design

What it is

Eskil Steenberg's two-hour talk on his personal approach to writing C, covering code style, structure, naming, pointers and large-project organization. He warns it contains a fair bit of programming religion.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN recommends it as the one long programming video worth watching, a provocative and influential take on C.

  • 8 people recommended it
  • 9 different months
  • 3 strong recommendations
  • first 2017, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “I seriously loved How I Program C”

    Big influence on the commenter.

    yesenadam, 2021-02 · Strong recommendation · in “Ask HN: Best tech talks/videos of 2020-1?”

  2. “the only 2 hour YouTube video I'll ever recommend”

    Watch after learning C basics.

    suprjami, 2022-12 · Strong recommendation · in “Ask HN: Learn C in 2023?”

  3. “the video is heavily recommended”

    Top notch C work from Steenberg.

    MonkeyClub, 2022-12 · Strong recommendation · in “Ask HN: Learn C in 2023?”

  4. “is, imho, pretty good as well.”

    Talk by Eskil Steenberg on how he programs in C.

    signa11, 2017-03 · Recommendation · in “Principles for C programming”

  5. “For more on my programing style, and philosophy watch this”

    Steenberg's own programming style and philosophy.

    quelsolaar, 2020-07 · Recommendation · in “Finally releasing my 15 years of C libraries as open source”

  6. “I think "How I program C" by Eskil Steenberg is an interesting window”

    Shows what laser focus on one language and a dogfooded code mountain yields.

    59nadir, 2023-06 · Recommendation · in “I think Zig is hard but worth it”

  7. “I am sure the video above will cause immediate disagreement (I think it goes too far on some topics), but I urge people to consider the ideas contained within.”

    Classic talk defending C, provocative but worth considering

    ykonstant, 2025-06 · Recommendation · in “Untangling Lifetimes: The Arena Allocator”

  8. “Long and definitely a bit controversial in parts, but I find myself agreeing with most of it.”

    Long, somewhat controversial talk on C practices the commenter mostly agrees with

    breckinloggins, 2025-12 · Recommendation · in “Brent's Encapsulated C Programming Rules (2020)”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: c, eskil steenberg, code structure, naming, pointers, software philosophy

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