One major problem, which I think is related to this you're saying is that C is used as if it was a beginner's language, but it isn't.
C was made so that it could be simply compiled to assembly. Also important, it had high portability "in mind". The mix of these two design goals is that compilers could exist for many platforms. And not just that, it's a language that was made also so that a large part of the UNIX operating system could be re-written in.
As some additional, although you can interpret C, that's not how it's usually used. In teaching/learning, people use optimizing (professional) compilers such as GCC. Which leads to a much non-interactive environment.
Put these 2 design goals together and you're bound to realize a language which is not beginner friendly because lots of things are there, or not, for reasons (a) to help the compiler writers; (b) due to portability on some machine of the 70's or 80's; and (c) of being a language for OS development. Add this with the fact that the tools around the language are not so interactice, you get something really beginner unfriendly.
C is not simple to learn, to use or to get good at. Compilers take advantage of what was put in the standard in very bizarre ways. Which means that if your code is wrong, even a little bit, it's likely that you get bugs, terrible ones. The optimizing compilers (good for professional use; bad for leaning) are usually the ones which will lead to the strangests bugs. Again, not beginner friendly.
It's often that people think they're good at C, and that they write portable C code:
they usually are not and don't. C is very good at deceiving people.
Unfortunately, C is not a language that you can just pick and start solving your problem right away. Many more ordinary statements can fail for non-obvious reasons, which is not so common in other languages.
I am not implying that you don't know all this. I am though, implying that you should take this into consideration when you talk about learning C, and beginner programmers approaching C, and even beginners in C from other languages.
There are good books which are not difficult, and do not let go of preciseness, like K&R2.
"C is not simple to learn, to use or to get good at."
The R&K is a very pedagogical book. This is really easy to read. The exercises at the end of chapter are excellent. Even a beginner can reach a very good level in C by studying this single book.
There are many trickiness (most of them result from recent standards), but beginners should simply avoid them using a sane programming style.
C was made so that it could be simply compiled to assembly. Also important, it had high portability "in mind". The mix of these two design goals is that compilers could exist for many platforms. And not just that, it's a language that was made also so that a large part of the UNIX operating system could be re-written in.
As some additional, although you can interpret C, that's not how it's usually used. In teaching/learning, people use optimizing (professional) compilers such as GCC. Which leads to a much non-interactive environment.
Put these 2 design goals together and you're bound to realize a language which is not beginner friendly because lots of things are there, or not, for reasons (a) to help the compiler writers; (b) due to portability on some machine of the 70's or 80's; and (c) of being a language for OS development. Add this with the fact that the tools around the language are not so interactice, you get something really beginner unfriendly.
C is not simple to learn, to use or to get good at. Compilers take advantage of what was put in the standard in very bizarre ways. Which means that if your code is wrong, even a little bit, it's likely that you get bugs, terrible ones. The optimizing compilers (good for professional use; bad for leaning) are usually the ones which will lead to the strangests bugs. Again, not beginner friendly.
It's often that people think they're good at C, and that they write portable C code: they usually are not and don't. C is very good at deceiving people.
Unfortunately, C is not a language that you can just pick and start solving your problem right away. Many more ordinary statements can fail for non-obvious reasons, which is not so common in other languages.
I am not implying that you don't know all this. I am though, implying that you should take this into consideration when you talk about learning C, and beginner programmers approaching C, and even beginners in C from other languages.
There are good books which are not difficult, and do not let go of preciseness, like K&R2.