If You Want to Program in C, Use C++

There cases where C is chosen as a programming language. When this happen, I think it's better to use C++ with C style programming instead of using "classical" style one. This means use C++ as a Better C, an improved C for functional programming without it's Object Oriented and Generic Programming.

I have seen the code written in recent times that still use C strictly with it's old convention and. I think it's still makes sense if it's a maintenance/bug fixing work, but for new project I think we could improve readability, safety and more convenient coding time.

You could choose to use feature that only improve your typically-used structure like inline function to replace macro or use flexible declaration placement instead of having to declare all of them in the beginning. If you feel brave enough you could use more new stuff like references. You could even use STL's containers without harming your program's "functional-ness" (just use typedefs to hide those nasty template instantiation).

As a guideline, don't use what you don't understand or only have a vague sense of why behind certain construct. When you do, you'll most likely will get into trouble sooner or later.

You could program in functional-paradigm without having to revert to use plain old C these days, just need to get a little familiar with what C++ has to offer regarding it.