Customer Reviews

Beginning C (Expert's Voice)

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Notice something strange in the computer section of bookstores? Plenty of books on such languages as Java, C++, C# and Visual Basic. But try finding a book on plain old C. Perhaps there is an issue of Kernighan and Ritchie. But, quite possibly, there is no C book at all.

But a need for C still exists. Most of the unix variants, and linux, are coded in C, with perhaps a C++ overlayer. And on Microsoft machines, a vast body of C code also exists, for such things as device drivers, for example. K&R is the definitive text for C, but awkward for users new to any programming. Its terseness and lack of many examples make it so.

Which is why it is nice to see a new edition of Horton's book. It deliberately eschews the conciseness of K&R. Instead, it has extensive discussions of every feature of C. Aimed squarely at a newbie. Horton is generous with code examples, many of which are entire (small) programs. Naturally these days, the code can be downloaded from the publisher.

Horton even discusses what may be fairly advanced stuff for a beginner. Like structuring data via the struct command. What this means, though, is that the book can be used as a complete text for the language.

As an important practical matter, you do not need to understand all, or even most, of the book, to start coding. The emphasis from the first chapter is on writing code, even with only partial knowledge of C.

Purely as a conjecture, it may be astute planning on the part of Hortan and his publisher to come out with this edition. A real gap seems to have opened up in the market over C books. This might fill it.

I recomnd this book, it was easily twice as good as any online tutorial you could have taken.

I'm currently reviewing my C for a new position, and am appreciating this book very much. When I learned C in community college, we used poorly written unfriendly textbooks. While Beginning C may not be a "must have" book, it's part of the generation of approachable books beginners can use, with substantial examples usable by intermediates.

I'm primarily retyping in the code (although I could download the electronic form) to introduce bugs and practice my debugging skills. I **have** noticed that some programs have bugs or needed minor changes to run on my CodeWarrior C platform, but I see this as a feature, not a bug. :D

This seems to be a rewrite of his earlier edtion, Beginning C. There is no mention whatsoever of the new C99 standard, etc. It looks as though they put a new cover on the book and raised the price. BAD, BAD, BAD!!!!