"Developer productivity is through the roof though."
I learned Python after I learned C, C++, Java, Scala, Rust and a few others. I fail to see my productivity going through the roof with Python. It's quite the opposite. Writing initial code is fast, but making it work well - not so much.
I’ve been working on altimeters for model rockets using both C and Micropython on Adafruit’s feather series and a couple other boards. The thing with C is the tool chain setup is 3/4 the battle. It’s a huge LOE to go from nothing to a blinking led (the embedded hello world) with C. With micropython it’s 5 lines, drag/drop a file, and reboot.
I appreciate C and I’ve learned a lot of things like peripheral clock multipliers and all the work that has to be done before you can even jump to main. However, I set out to make an altimeter heh.
Edit: oh and with C, writing your own device driver for every single thing is a pit of a pita too. There are open source drivers for some breakouts but they all seem to require serious hand fitting.
If you are forced to write pure C (or a very low level subset of C++) , then that is often because:
- you need every tiny bit of performance,
- you optimize for low executable size or low memory footprint (e.g ATTiny13)
- you have an exotic architecture that offers only a C compiler or ancient C++ compiler from 90s,
- you need to use C for other reasons like safety certification, e.g. MISRA C.
In all of these cases Python wouldn't work at all.
And in the others your can use modern C++ which can be just as productive as Python (in my case it is more productive, but I have probably spent more time with it than with Python, so I'm biased).
For twiddling GPIO pins, I can be most productive in C (or the C subset of c++ for pedants).
Twiddling GPIO pins and doing other bit gymnastics is a fair bit of simple sensor interface microcontroller projects, which is a large overlap with the target for CircuitPython.
I know a lot of people for whom both are much more productive in python than in any other language, including myself. If that's not true for you, you must have different preferences.
Let's just find our own language each one and not bash others' choices, maybe?
I learned Python after I learned C, C++, Java, Scala, Rust and a few others. I fail to see my productivity going through the roof with Python. It's quite the opposite. Writing initial code is fast, but making it work well - not so much.