Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 454 pages
- Published by: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
- Edition: 3rd Edition August 1, 1997
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 1565923065
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-1565923065
-
Book Dimensions:
9.1 x 7.1 x 0.9 inches
- Weighs: 1.6 pounds
Book Description
There are lots of introductory C books, but this is the first one that has the no-nonsense, practical approach that has made Nutshell Handbooks(R) famous. C programming is more than just getting the syntax right. Style and debugging also play a awesome part in creating programs that run well and are easy to maintain. This book teaches you not only the mechanics of programming, but also describes how to create programs that are easy to read, debug, and update. Practical rules are stressed. For example, there are fifteen precedence rules in C (&& comes before || comes before ?:). The practical programmer reduces these to two:
- Multiplication and division come before addition and subtraction.
Contrary to popular belief, most programmers do not spend most of their time creating code. Most of their time is spent modifying someone else's code. This books shows you how to avoid the all-too-common obfuscated uses of C (and also to recognize these uses when you encounter them in existing programs) and thereby to leave code that the programmer responsible for maintenance does not have to struggle with. Electronic Archaeology, the art of going through someone else's code, is described. This third edition introduces popular Integrated Development Environments on Windows systems, as well as UNIX programming utilities, and features a large statistics-generating program to pull together the concepts and features in the language.
Book Info
Teaches not only the mechanics of the C language, but the entire life cycle of C as well (including the program's conception, design, code, methods, debugging, release, documentation, maintenance, and revision). New edition introduces popular Integrated Development Environments on Windows systems and UNIX programming utilities. Paper.
Reader Reviews
I'm surprised at some of the single-star reviews for this book. IMHO, anyone who thinks this book isn't clearly written simply didn't spend enough time reading and thinking about the material. Let's face it, programming isn't easy -- you need to learn some basic concepts, then learn the syntax of a language, then practice and move on to advanced features. This book does an excellent job of helping programmers, even complete novices, do just that. The author also goes beyond the basics, and covers some hints and tips that are not mentioned in any other beginner's book that I can find. For example, many beginner's books warn about the erratic behavior of scanf(), but only Practical C takes the extra step by providing a complete workaround (the author advises not to use scanf(), and to use fgets() and sscanf() instead). I'm only a beginner, and so far I have purchased and read through Greg Perry's Absolute Beginner's Guide to C, Dave Mark's Learn C on the Macintosh (and on Win 95), the classic K&R C Programming Language, and Practical C. All of these books have their advantages, but I think K&R is a bit too difficult for complete newbies. The Perry and Mark books may be a little too simple, but they're excellent quick reads. Practical C is the perfect middle ground, and I recommend that it be read in conjuction with one of the easier books before moving on to K&R. I also recommend that you read through a chapter completely to get the concepts, then go back and do all the exercises for reinforcement. That's what I did, and even though I struggled to "get" some of the material the first time around, on the second read-through everything managed to sink in. I can't recommend this book highly enough -- it is clear, accurate, and a pleasure to read and work through.
Comment | |
(Report this)
Search for books at
