Customer Reviews

Illustrating C (Ansi/Iso Version)

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I got an "A" in my C course. And I used 5 text books. The ONLY textbook that really helped was Alcock's "Illustrating C". It uses diagrams in a truly "revolutionary" way that really helps understanding. It's like moving from black and white to colour. The intention is to provide the student with a set of course notes, complete with instructor black-board diagrams -- only better. It really works. It's enjoyable. Did I mention I got an "A"? I hope that other textbook writers pick up on Mr. Alcock's unique style! Bravo!!! I found C difficult until Mr. Alcock's diagrams made things clear -- the mysterious problem in teaching seems to be that many teachers and textbooks stop JUST BEFORE they reach the foundation of the matter -- and then you have to guess what's really going on. I suspect that this is because many teachers or textbook writers really don't have a profound understanding of their material -- and this becomes a difficulty for the student. Mr. Alcock understands the foundation of the matter and has managed to present it in the most accessible manner. You can really really learn from this surprisingly slight book!!! Bravo again!!!

Donald Alcock's Illustrating C is not just an outstanding intro into writing _idiomatic_ c, but it's a really beautiful model of how to put across a whole lot of the beautiful ideas of Computer Science. His illo's are hand drawn. Imagine really good blackboard illustrations of standard C.S. topics like linked lists and hash tables and so on, tidied up for publication. It just kills me that this wonderful little book is out of print. If you are a programmer of any stripe and you see a copy of this rascal, dive for it. You'll be glad you did. If you are a grizzled programmer that is taking up C, you'll find it a delight. If you are a gamer kid wanting to get into real programming, you'll find it hard, but worthwhile because there's so much great stuff presented in such a condensed manner. What a swell book!

Yes this book is very difficult to find.. The author has an incredible way of explaining each concept within a page or two, in a very concise and inuitive manor. This book is great for beginners, and equally valuable to the more advanced programmers. A must have for the library...

This is the best C book on the market for visual thinkers like me! I used it to re-engineer a large embedded development project a few years ago. It's the only book I have found that explained link lists well. Buy it NOW!

This book is absolutely fantastic. For those novices looking for a good introduction to C, this book blows all other books out of the water.