Average Customer Review: 
| Recommend for learning C or getting a better understanding | |
Before ANSI C existed, this book was the standard definition of the C language. The authors, Kernighan and Ritchie, are the K and the R in "K & R C". This edition of the book has been updated to reflect changes made to the C language by the ANSI committee. The second half of the book contains a reference section with the complete ANSI definition of the C language and libraries. In addition to being the authority on the subject of the C language, this book is also a great learning guide. The first section contains an introduction to the C language and tutorials. When I was learning C, I was coming from a BASIC background and had a very hard time understanding pointers. Of the many C books I read, this was that first one that really explained everything clearly. Many of the examples and tutorials involve writing your own version of standard library function such as strlen(). This is a great way to learn to use the language and better understand the library at the same time. I highly recommend this book to anyone learning C or trying to get a better understanding of it.
| Great Reference Book, Beginners Look Elsewhere | |
"The C Programming Language" is NOT a book for beginning programmers, or for those very new to C who wish to learn gradually. It is not much of a tutorial. It's written for either very experienced programmers coming from other languages, or for those who know the basics of C and need a reference book. The descriptions and examples are terse, and the learning curve is steep. Once you are comfortable programming in C, however, this is the one book you want next to you (and it will likely be the ONLY reference book you will ever need for straight ANSI C). Since it was written by the original authors of the C language, it's hard to imagine anyone being more authoritative on the subject, and although there's little hand-holding, it is well-written and pleasant enough to read through cover-to-cover. When you're ready to really get your hands dirty, do not hesitate to order this book.
I've recently re-read this after several years. If you have a serious programming language under your belt (and Visual Basic doesn't fall under that heading), this slim volume may well be the only book on C that you will ever need. There are numerous examples and exercises throughout the book. There are also suggestions and examples of sensible coding standards.The book begins with a brief, thirty page tutorial on core C functionality. What's surprising is that by the end of this chapter, one can write moderately interesting C programs. Following chapters cover various areas in more depth. For example, the sixth chapter covers pointers and arrays. This is an area that many new programmers find difficult. The authors provide a lucid, detailed discussion and an algorithm written in C for understanding complex declarations like: char (*(*x[3])())[5]; That is, x is an array[3] of pointer to function returning pointer to array[5] of char. Of course, one would rarely see such a declaration in practice, but it is important to be able to understand such declarations. The standard library is used throughout and is summarized in an appendix. Some of the examples and exercises indicate how some standard library functions might be written in C. As the authors say, "C has proven to be an extremely effective and expressive language for a wide variety of programming applications." This book is an excellent learning source and reference on C.
|
