C --> C++ -->JavaC --> C++ -->Java
The progression of C
I first used C on a PDP 11-70 when I was in college. That was my first exposure to Unix as well. It was also the first time that I used e-mail although I didn't have too many choices in terms of recipients.
Around 1989, Control Data wanted to have a C compiler on their Cyber 180 product line. A skunkworks project had started doing this and I became the project leader assigned the task of making it conform to Control Data standards for compilers. At the same time, it was necessary to develop a test suite for the compiler, bring it up to ANSI standards, fix the bugs and improve performance. I bet our marketing person that I could get it done by the specified date. I don't know how he got that case of beer on the airplane but he did.
The ANSI standard was considered sufficiently important that I was sent to several ANSI C committee meetings. Most of these meetings occurred after the standard was completed and the committee's work involved resolving questions and considering amendments.
The C compiler was mostly written in C itself and the run-time library was exclusively written in C. Later I used Microsoft's C 7 (this was before Visual C) on a client/server project that needed to run on Windows 3.1. I also used Apple's MPW C for the same project for the Macintosh client.
At this time the ANSI C committee work merged into ANSI (really ISO) C++ committee work. I was on a subcommittee looking at particular differences between C and C++ that were not simply upgrades from C to C++. I wrote a few articles for a journal called "The Journal of C Language Translation".
I used C extensively when I moved to Eclipsys. This C development was on Unix (AIX). Later I ported an application to NT using Visual C++. I had to port Oracle run-time calls (OCI) into ODBC calls at the same time.
When Java became popular I gave a short seminar to the other project members on the differences between C and Java. I have since used Java for small applets. I am generally familiar with JDBC, Swing classes and so on. I have used both Visual J++ and Symantec Visual Cafe.