C Programming for the Absolute Beginner [Paperback]

Michael Vine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 9, 2002 | ISBN-10: 1931841527 | ISBN-13: 978-1931841528 | Edition: 1

Each chapter includes a project designed around simple games as a fun approach to learning programming. This book will use ANSI C standards and the free gcc compiler as its development platforms. Using these platforms allows the reader to access free software for most operating systems (Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000), Linux and othe UNIX-based OS's. Most competitors assume readers have access to varioius developmental environments. This book uses the free CYGWIN software which will allow readers from any background (UNIX or Microsoft) to easily read, study, and implement chapter contents. Unlike most of the competitors, the author will not deviate from the original target audience by including even minor discussion of advance programming topics, which lose many beginners and fail to satisfy intermediate to advanced programmers.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael Vine has taught computer programming, web design and database classes at Indiana University Purdue University (IUPUI) in Indianapolis, IN and MTI College in Sacramento, CA. Michael has 12 years of professional IT experience with Fortune 500 companies in database development, software engineering, web design and IT project management.

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Course Technology PTR; 1 edition (September 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931841527
• ISBN-13: 978-1931841528
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,515,533 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Easy to use, but not technically correct, October 4, 2003

By 

Todd Stephens (Lakeland, FL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: C Programming for the Absolute Beginner (Paperback)

The book is easy to follow, and can help a non-programmer pick up the basics. The problem is in the code examples. The code examples in this book all compile, and the binaries run, but if you enable warnings on your ANSI-compliant compiler before compiling any of this code, you will see a whole host of warnings and error messages. Don't think that you will learn C from this book and then go get a job somewhere as a C programmer. Your code will be as non-ANSI compliant as it could possibly be while still working. This makes it even more difficult if you progress to a more advanced C text after this, as you will likely have to go back and relearn quite a bit. I give it 5 stars for ease of use, but it loses 3 stars for not "teaching good programming practices" as it claims to on the cover.

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For anyone wanting to learn C Programming from scratch, December 7, 2002

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: C Programming for the Absolute Beginner (Paperback)

Deftly written by software engineer and applications developer Michael Vine, C Programming For The Absolute Beginner truly lives up to its title. No previous familiarity with the art of computer programming is required to understand and learn from the lessons provided, all of which revolve around simple game creation in a learn-through-doing process. Basic C Programming tasks such as initializing variables, creating two-dimensional arrays, manipulating strings, and using compound if structures, are among the many core building block abilities taught by this superbly written and presented introductory guide. An accompanying CD contains a gcc C compiler and the Cygwin free UNIX shell makes Michael Vine's C Programming For The Absolute Beginner and absolute "must" for anyone wanting to learn C Programming from scratch.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Adequate, January 4, 2006

By 

M. Helmke - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: C Programming for the Absolute Beginner (Paperback)

This is heavily focused on C programming in the Windows environment. The information is decent, but if you want to use Unix or Linux, etc., you will need something else to supplement.