Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 560 pages
- Published by: Prentice Hall
- Edition: 5th Edition March 3, 2002
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 013089592X
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0130895929
-
Book Dimensions:
9 x 7 x 0.8 inches
- Weighs: 1.7 pounds
Product Review
You can find bigger books about C, but you will not find one as authoritative or helpful as this reference manual. Harbison and Steele have now gone through four editions and are beginning to cover language differences which can surprise the experienced C coder moving to C++. As always, the authors do an great job of explaining what's standard and what it replaces. No hairy syntax has been omitted, so this volume can make wending one's way through obfuscated code, if not pleasant, at least less miserable. Whether you learned C from Kernighan or some massive tome, you'll want this volume as your day-to-day reference. And you will not mind buying a new edition once in a while, because you'll have worn the old one out by then.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
A new and improved revision of the bestselling C language reference. This essential manual introduces the notion of "Clean C," writing C code that can be compiled as a C++ program, and incorporates the ISO C Amendment 1 (1994) which specifies new facilities for writing portable, international programs in C.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Reader Reviews
This review is from: C: A Reference Manual (4th Edition) (Paperback)
I've never understood why this book hasn't gotten more attention, so I'll add my vote to the others. I'm a professional software developer (MFC, C++, and C). I first learned C in about 1992 using Kernighan and Ritchie, the only other C book you ever need to buy. I own several other C books, but have found that C ARM is the only one I ever use. Everything is there, in enough detail to answer every question I've ever had about C. The book even covers earlier versions of the language, if you're stuck with an older compiler (or need to port some older code). Secondly, the book is detailed and strict. Short of checking the actual standards documents, I know of no better way to answer those nit-picky language-lawyer questions that _will_ pop up sooner or later. I use a reference for those things that _don't_ pop up every day, and hence aren't usually covered in a tutorial book. They're in C ARM. C++ programmers should own a copy of C ARM, too. C is, after all, a "subset" of C++. However, C++ is such a huge language that the standard C++ reference/tutorials like Stroustrup (my preference), or Lippman and Lajoie, leave full coverage of C to other books. That's where C ARM comes in. No, you're not supposed to use printf() in C++ applications, but people do and you may well have to debug their code. If that's not convincing, recall that level of detail that I mentioned above. Stroustrup doesn't even have an ASCII table. Again, this is definitely not a primer. It is a reference for experienced C programmers. Buy K&R if you want to learn C.
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