Not sure if I would use it today for new projects, probably Julia would be the better choice nowadays.
I don't understand why sometimes people pluralize "code". It sounds a bit silly but maybe it's just me.
So in this sense, as a synonym for a library or a program that accomplishes some function, "code" is countable.
Yes, GNU now has a front end for COBOL, so LLVM turn. Maybe IBM and the Navy Department will help.
In C99, C added the 'restrict' qualifier for pointers, which would make function arguments marked with it behave a bit like procedure arguments in Fortran. Idea being to allow the compiler to optimize more aggressively.
Not specifically about making C more like Fortran, but there's been a lot of work over the years clarifying what compilers can and cannot assume. More recently, a lot of work going into things like 'pointer provenance', again in an effort to clarify where more aggressive optimizations can be done. And things like when can NULL checks be elided etc.
Some people resent all this and just want C to be more like a 'portable macro-assembler'.
