Jan, most of my projects I would call small - around 2000 lines of 'c'. I have worked on large projects in assembler - 100+ sources files for around 200K object. Regardless of what language you use, ultimately you're trying to write 'correct' code - that is code that does what is expected 100% of the time. So how does one 'prove' the correctness of the code? What tools do you have in assembler for this? Very few, or at least, I've seen very few. As for tools to 'check' your c code - there are numerous. One of the most common ways of reducing defects in code is to have another competent person (or persons) review the code. Industry and research has shown this is a powerful tool for reducing defects and I've found it works well. Further to this, it has been proven that the readability of the code affects the ability to detect defects. The MISRA 'C' coding standard makes reference to this. NASA and the US air force have also done studies regarding these issues. Based on my experience, I can say that I have less defects writing in 'c' - thats coming from someone that eats assembler for breakfast!

As for Jez's competency - I don't believe I made any question of that. I quite sure there was compelling reasons for him to use assembler and I agree to his customer's lack of understanding of the issue. If they wanted 'c' then they should've asked for it and specified a coding standard to boot. The customer would've had trouble if he'd written in Jovial or ADA on a Mil Std cpu - try finding people who know these languages!