Customer Reviews

C For Dummies, 2nd Edition

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

You want to learn C? or even thinking of it? Buy this book. Maybe you have heard or suggested of other books and authors but Dan Gookins gentle hand holding way of teaching is unbeatable and his humorous approach is unputdownable.Even a person with no previous knowledge of programming can learn the language surprisingly fast and quick. Buy this book.

A common mistake for people teaching themselves C++ programming is to start out with "C++ for Dummies" or "Teach Yourself C++ in 21 days". Those books will leave you confused and fustrated. This is the book you should start out with, dont get into OOP till you have a handle on structured programming syntax. This book will guide you through all of the confusing concepts painlessly and only teach you what you need to know to get past the initial confusion of writing code. I should warn you though that this book does not cover many of the advanced concepts of C like pointers and linked lists and that you are better off buying "C All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies" by the same author which will give you more complete coverage of the C language than this book.

I'm not a programmer or "coder", but I do know the basic ideas behind programming. That aside, my attention tends to wander when learning new things, and sometimes a little light entertainment can go a long way. When I wanted to learn to use the C programming language and thought I'd give the "Dummies" offering a try.

Here's the things that it covers well:
Where to get a decent (and free) C compiler.
The program's basic structure and syntax.
Putting text on a standard text screen. (Think DOS or CLI)
Getting input from the keyboard.
Introducing you to the basic variable types.
Doing some basic math with numeric variables.
Doing program branching with numeric variables.
Doing program branching with single character variables.
Looping.

Now for the bad news...
Do not expect to be able to learn any of the following:
Read or write to the file system.
Concatenate or otherwise manipulate string variables.
Perform program branching using string variables.
Gain a proficient understanding to write anything that is actually useful.
Access any other system hardware or software such as the mouse, the internet, graphics, other running programs, etc...

There was one aspect I felt was very annoying. About halfway through the book, the author starts to plug his other book, "C All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies" for information that he isn't going to cover in this book, and it gets more and more intrusive as the humor winds down, and the book drones on. Of course if you're willing to be seen reading a book marketed towards "dummies" you can probably expect to be played as one too.

All in all, I do feel this book has merit and makes for a good starting point. It has immensely helped me to understand the C programming language, and I can comprehend the basic ideas. It was worth the time and money even though I was expecting to achieve more practical results before I started.

I always wanted to learn the C language because it was the best for game programming. one time i went to the book store and bought this and i read it in less than 3 weeks and i learned a LOT about C and what it has to offer. it is introductory and very comprehensive. i like it a lot because i was learning a lot. i kept trying to read other books but none of those books were as easy to learn as this one. HOWEVER, i already had some backgroud knowledge of programming in the BLITZBASIC language and LIBERTYBASIC and others similiar to those. the only reason why i chose this book is because there weren't any other game programmign books that used one of the BASIC programming languages i mentioned above, and others said that C/C++ were the most common and most powerful languags to use for game programming. so that is probably why i understood it so well. it explains everything in plain english as it says(or a dummy's point of view). however the only reason why i gave this book a 4-star rating is because it was too in-formal for me. and sometimes i couldn't understand somethings because of the humor but i eventually figured it out :). Overall, i think its a great book to buy. note: If your just starting to learn programmign itself, and if you can't understand this book, then buy Game Programming for Teens writen by maneesh seth(i think i spelled it right). you may not want to learn game programming, but it has some very comprehensive information that can get you started. I'm 13 years old and i have been programming for almost 1 year now :).

The first rule of writing is to know your audience. If you're reading about this product then we can assume two things: (a) you want / need to know C and (b) you need a gentle introduction. To be sure, this book is not an exhaustive resource on all things "C". It's subtitle should probably be "C for Kindergarteners", because it is fun (in a corny way) and easily digestible.

I want to learn C because Pixar's Renderman Shading Language is "C-like", and though I could read it, I didn't completely understand it. As I worked though the exercises of this book, I had many "so that's what that means" moments. Overall, a pretty good introduction; I am 3/4 through the text.

The good: the code snippets are short, so you can observe, study and understand each function or command in isolation with instant gratification syndrome in full effect. A few of the exercises graph / diagram the flow of logic line by line, which is pretty insightful if you are not used to thinking this way.

The bad: the jokes are lame and frequent, in keeping with the decidedly "un-whitepaper-like" tone that the author has chosen to follow. Also the code snippets are short, so even though you have a sense of accomplishment after successfully compiling, running and debugging the programs, you're kinda hungry for something more ambitious.

I would recommend this book to the completely new and uninitiated user who wants to advance their understanding from totally clueless to amateur / novice level. At that time, they can seek out more comprehensive books and not feel lost.

The idea behind the Dummies books - put the reader at ease - is taken to extremes here. The style is not only very distracting, but a waste of time. This book is almost 400 pages long, but if you took out the dumb jokes and other irrelevant material, you could condense it down to about 50 pages. For a good introduction to C programming, and an excellent example of concise technical writing, spend fifteen bucks to download Coronado's C tutorial:

[...]

I have a total of three introductory books on C programming and none of them is as useful as the Coronado tutorial.

What is C without pointers? I am not sure but it is not C. Someone at work suggested it would be C--. That might be a better title for the book. It might be OK for a very very very beginner but it would probably leave even them hungry. In all fairness it does have 2/3 of one page on pointers. The classic K&R book on the C language by the people that invented it spends about 20% of the book on pointers.

This book mostly skips structures also with a mere 1.5 pages on them. If you combined pointers and structures probably 1/3 of K&R is on them.

I really like the Dummies series. They have a unique feature that is missing in most computer books. You can read them and not fall asleep before the end of one page. I recommend you skip this book and get "C All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies". Also, (not recommended for beginners) the classic "The C Programming Language" by Kerningham and Ritche, 1988, is still in print and surprisingly readable.

I liked this book.
I'm just a simple high school student that was one day sitting at my desk and going to random sites. I was interested in how computers worked, and how they were programmed. So i once typed in "www.dummies.com". It turns out that's the site for the "for Dummies" series of books. I decided to look through the section on computers I came over this book about computer programming and decided to buy it on Amazon. I got it and read through a little bit, but I just set it aside after only a few pages of reading all kinds of stuff about where the C programming language came from and how important it was. A year later, I went back to the dummies site and decided that I wanted to read some stuff on how to write game programming. I bought the book, and later found out that t I needed some experience with C programming to use the book. I remembered this book and read it all through. It was a bit complex, I'll say, but very informative. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to get into computer programming. You might want to check out a site like www.w3schools.com first, and read the javascript tutorial. Although javascript (website design language) and C are very different languages, they do share similar functions and commands.
This book is a perfect-sized stepping stone into the wonderful world of computer programming. You may also want to check out some books on C++ and C# programming if you are seriously considerring becoming a professional computer programmer, because these three similar languages are a good part of the base to start learning other languages and becoming a programming master.

I have really enjoyed this book. Just as he says in the beginning of the book that most technical books start of great with the newcomer and then about the 4th chapter they take off to impress their buddies. He states this book does not do that and he is absolutely right.

Good working examples all the way through the book that make it easy to build off of. Very well designed book and highly recommended.

then buy this book. Gives an excellent understanding and foundation, better than any school recommended book. But if you need this, you will also need the all-in-one-desk reference for dummies as your knowledge will need the next step pronto