C11

Gathering a new standard for a technology that has been in use for more than 30 years is not an easy task. Millions (if not billions!) of lines of C code exist, and if you are about to introduce new features, this must be done while keeping previous code or features intact. New features shouldn't create new problems for the existing programs, and they should be bug-free. While this view seems to be idealistic, it is something that we should be committed to.

The following PDF document resides on the Open Standards website and contains the worries and thoughts that people in the C community had in mind before starting to shape C11: http://www.open-std.org/JTC1/SC22/wg14/www/docs/n1250.pdf. It would be useful to give it a read because it will introduce you to the experience of authoring a new standard for a programming language that several thousand pieces of software have been built upon.

Finally, with these things in mind, we consider the release of C11. When C11...