Advanced C Programming by Example [Paperback]

John W. Perry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 14, 1998

This practical, example-driven, code-centered book is intended for intermediate-level C programmers who want to take their skills to the next level. The book builds on readers' existing background in C to complete their knowledge of ANSI C libraries, and the conceptual and syntactic structures needed to master dynamic data structures, string parsing and numeric conversion, memory management, bit-level manipulation, interactions with operating systems, and other advanced techniques. What sets this book apart from traditional data structures books is it's "blue collar" approach to the art of programming -- how to master the "down in the trenches" C details to implement abstract ideas successfully. In recognition of this approach, the book presents actual C code rather than pseudocode.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Pws Pub Co; 1st edition (January 14, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0534951406
• ISBN-13: 978-0534951405
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #824,426 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-have book!, February 15, 2000

By 

Joegas "joegas" (Canberra, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Advanced C Programming by Example (Paperback)

I've got a few C-programming books, but this is the one that I love best of all. It is a gem of a book that resonates with simple, crystal-clear explanations on topics so seemingly difficult to understand in the classic book by Kernighan and Ritchie. I would recommend using these two books together.

What makes this book even more entertaining and readable is that Perry is not afraid to lay on his idiosyncrasies regarding the practice of programming. There is a little hiccup, though, when he recommends the use of gets() and sscanf() together for nearly all input of strings from the terminal: gets() is widely known to be inferior to fgets(), and sscanf() is not discussed in the book at all!

But all in all, a book that deserves full marks.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone should read this book!, July 11, 1999

By 

From_Plano_TX "a_customer_from_plano" (Plano, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Advanced C Programming by Example (Paperback)

Even if you work in C++ instead of C, you should read this book. It packs a lot of useful info in less than 300 pages. I once got a job offer because I answered a programming question with a better answer than the interviewers had up their sleave, and I got that better answer from reading this book. Contents: (1) Optimal C Coding Style, (2) Review of Standard Pointer and Array Operations, (3) Linear Dynamic Data Structures: Stacks, Queues, and Linked Lists, (4) Advanced String Handling, (5) Advanced Input and Output, (6) Bit Manipulation, (7) Recursion and Binary Trees, (8) Multidimensional Arrays and Arrays of (Non-Char) Pointers, (9 & 10) are a variety of topics. The examples are clear, there are useful illustrations and sample code. An outstanding book. If the author were from AT&T or Berkeley, this would be a runaway best seller. This is an overlooked gem.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic and difficult book on C, September 5, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Advanced C Programming by Example (Paperback)

I own hundreds of programming texts and this is by far one of my very favorites, and my absolute favorite book on C.

This book tackles the tougher issues of C programming in great detail, with concise and self-contained examples you can type in directly, compile and run (many books only provide code sections, not entire programs).

Each chapter includes quiz questions that are just difficult enough to challenge the reader, but not so difficult that you will skip over them. I found the quizes to be very useful.

This book is pleasantly slim (although dense). Does anyone really read those 800 page books? I don't. This book will take you a long time, as the content is dense, but you can actually read the whole book and get a sense of completion.

I also enjoyed the author's commentary on C and other programming languages.

I'm really amazed that more people do not own this book.