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0 pointsrcamera13y ago0 comments

I am midway through K&R, but now I am curious, what other book would you suggest?

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7 comments · 4 top-level

rgbrenner13y ago· 2 in thread

IMO, this is a better book at explaining C clearly: "advanced programming in the unix environment" by W. Richard Stevens. Don't be fooled by the title.. it's a beginner book.

telemachos13y ago

> Don't be fooled by the title.. it's a beginner book.

I never know what to do with comments like this. It's obviously not a beginner's book. At the very least, it assumes that you know C. If your response is "C is a small language. You can learn it by reading <some-other-thing>.", you're admitting that APUE is not a beginner's book. If your response is, "C is a small language. You can learn it by reading APUE itself.", then I call bullshit. Is it theoretically possible, sure. But is it a natural way for a true beginner to learn C? Certainly not.

rgbrenner13y ago

> It's obviously not a beginner's book.

What do you mean by this? You obviously have NOT read it. I have. I'm telling you it is a beginner book. It does not assume you know C or anything else. It has nothing to do with the size of C. Grabbed it off my bookshelf -- he starts off telling you how to login to a unix system. How advanced can it be?

This is literally the book that taught me the basics of C within a week -- the first language I learned (15 years ago). So it is definitely a beginner book IMO.

Edit: I will say, he does get into some more advanced things toward the end. Which is why I like the book.. he starts off very basic, and by the end, he's covered the basics of interprocess communication, shared memory, etc.

2 more replies

telemachos13y ago· 1 in thread

Popular suggestions (not introductory):

    C Interfaces and Implementations (David R. Hanson)
    Expert C Programming (Peter van der Linden)

I'm also a fan of C Programming: A Modern Approach (K. N. King) as an introductory book, but it's very different in intended audience from K&R. King is writing for students, and he assumes nearly nothing. K&R are really writing for experienced fellow programmers, I think. So it's an apples to oranges comparison. But King is certainly more modern. He includes a fair amount of C99 material. The writing can't compare with K&R. It's nowhere near as dense or elegant. But if you find parts of K&R a bit too dense and elegant, it's a good trade-off. (I used them both in tandem while trying to learn C this summer. It worked well for me. When King got too verbose, switch to K&R. When K&R lost me, switch to King.)

noarchy13y ago

King's book was my introduction to serious programming when I was younger. In an era of my life where I usually prefer ebooks, I still have King's book, in dead-tree format, and love it.

me_again13y ago

Harbison & Steele, "C: A Reference Manual".

jacquesm13y ago

You could do a lot worse than getting a copy of Sedgewick 'algorithms in C'.

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