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0 pointsrhizome13y ago0 comments

So you're basically conceding the main point: K&R is obsolete and unsuitable for education.

I disagree. I think OP was just saying that sometimes you might need more than one book, given that the original audience had pre-existing knowledge that tended to fill in the gaps. This might appear to be unsuitability "for education" within a popular marketplace of "Learn X in 24 hours" books, and make no mistake that this is the marketplace that Shaw is going after, so it's really a quibble about the level of expertise of your target market. "Rubes can't learn C from K&R." Yeah, well they never have.

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zeteo13y ago

If you also look at this metaphor

>Shaw criticizes the Wright Flyer by the criteria of Second World War aviation

it's pretty clear that the OP considers K&R obsolete and unsuitable for today's needs. It's not just that "sometimes you might need more than one book" - you wouldn't want to put the Wright Flyer in the same formation as a Flying Fortress.

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