All it requires is a ported C compiler
Once a C compiler has been developed for a new architecture,
the terabytes of C programs and libraries available on other C-based
platforms can also be ported to the new architecture.
What about assembly languages?
It is often quoted that a compiled C program
will run only 1-2% slower than the same program hand-coded in the
native assembly language for the machine.
But the obvious advantage of having the program coded in a readable,
high level language,
provides the overwhelming advantages of maintainability and portability.
Very little of an operating system,
such as Windows, macOS, or Linux,
is written in an assembly language - in most cases the majority is written in C.
Even an operating system's device drivers,
often considered the most time-critical code in an operating system kernel,
today contain assembly language numbered in only the hundreds of lines.
CITS2002 Systems Programming, Lecture 1, p8, 22nd July 2024.
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CITS2002