Historically, everyone who studied computing seriously learned assembly language, and it was much more widely used.
In early computing, assembly language saw a lot of use. The navigation program that sent the Apollo mission to the Moon was written in assembly language. During the micro-computer boom, which echoed the history of big iron boom, a lot of applications and systems were written in assembly language again. Most commercial video games for 8 bit micros were written in assembly language. The famous WordPerfect word processor for the IBM PC was assembly language. The VMS operating system: assembly language.
C became easily popular because it gave a nice notation, and a sprinkling of type, to assembly language memory manipulation concepts that most professional programmers already knew how to use.
In early computing, assembly language saw a lot of use. The navigation program that sent the Apollo mission to the Moon was written in assembly language. During the micro-computer boom, which echoed the history of big iron boom, a lot of applications and systems were written in assembly language again. Most commercial video games for 8 bit micros were written in assembly language. The famous WordPerfect word processor for the IBM PC was assembly language. The VMS operating system: assembly language.
C became easily popular because it gave a nice notation, and a sprinkling of type, to assembly language memory manipulation concepts that most professional programmers already knew how to use.