Sams Teach Yourself C for Linux Programming in 21 Days [Paperback]

Erik de Castro Lopo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 22, 1999 | Series: Sams Teach Yourself...in 21 Days

Sams Teach Yourself C for Linux Programming in 21 Days presents C programming techniques in a logical and easy-to-follow sequence that helps you understand the principles involved in developing C programs. You'll begin the basics of writing a program, then move on to arrays, pointers, disk input/output, functions, and more. Learn the basics of C, including variables, constants, conditional statements, loops, pointers, data structures, input/output, and functions. This book presents C in the most logical and easy-to-learn sequence, and is geared towards programmers learning the C language for Linux. Also included will be additional material needed to develop and execute programs for Linux.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Sams Teach Yourself C for Linux Programming in 21 Days presents C programming techniques in a logical and easy-to-follow sequence that helps you understand the principles involved in developing C programs. You'll begin the basics of writing a program, then move on to arrays, pointers, disk input/output, functions, and more. Learn the basics of C, including variables, constants, conditional statements, loops, pointers, data structures, input/output, and functions. This book presents C in the most logical and easy-to-learn sequence, and is geared towards programmers learning the C language for Linux. Also included will be additional material needed to develop and execute programs for Linux.

About the Author

Erik de Castro Lopo is a professional Research and Develpoment engineer who lives and works in Sydney Australia. He used UNIX extensively while at University and discovered Linux in 1995. He is a regular visitor to the Linux Usenet newsgroups, has contributed bug fixes to many open source projects and has also released some of his own code under the GNU General Public License.

Product Details

• Paperback: 768 pages
• Publisher: Sams (December 22, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0672315971
• ISBN-13: 978-0672315978
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.2 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #867,488 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT TUTORIAL, February 25, 2000

By 

David L. Van Popering (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself C for Linux Programming in 21 Days (Paperback)

Aside from teaching myself BASIC on my Commodore 64 way-back-when...this is the first programming language I have learned and I owe it all to this book. It is fantastic. Step-by-step, they take you from defining/describing what C is, to writing real-world programs.

You would do well to ignore the ignorant reviewers who complain about the title "21 days" (or 24 hours). These people are only looking for excuses. All the 'Teach yourself in 21 Days' books should be seen as 21 LESSONS (and the 24 hours as 24 LESSONS). Could I do it in 21 days? Yes, following the book's plan I could. Easily. But, I have a full time job, family, etc. and these factors can NOT be held accountable by the authors. 21 Excellent Lessons.

Days, Hours, months...whatever YOUR pace is, this book does an EXCELLENT job of teaching you what you need to know to write real-world, practical C Programs. I first learned Unix with using of the 'Teach yourself' books and have been a devoted reader ever since.

Some days I have time to go through 2 lessons while other times a single lesson may take me a day or 2 due to time constraints. Bottom line: I LEARNED C FROM THIS BOOK AND YOU CAN TOO.

I am NOT a computer science major. I am a self-taught Linux hacker who never wrote a line of code (except for a little BASIC 15 years ago) and I am now writing C code and tinkering with Open Source programs. (I'm running Slackware and Debian, if you were wondering).

Other tutorials are fine but many assume you are using Windows 95/98. "C is C is C", but this book is written in 'Linuxland' for Linux users; GCC is carefully explained and used here. I use and love the Nedit editor which was one of several recommended in the book.

New to C? Or want a fresh start from the beginning while in a Linux environment? GET THIS BOOK and digest all 21 LESSONS at your own pace!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Right on Target, March 10, 2000

By 

Geoff Thornton - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself C for Linux Programming in 21 Days (Paperback)

I have been learning C++ for a while on a linux platform, and started to look at some C stuff in the kernel and other programs to broaden my knowledge. I saw that that although C++ is derived from C it doesn't necessarily do stuff the same way, so I picked up this book. It was right on the mark! and explained some peculiar C stuff right away and in a good easy to read style. It consolidated my knowledge well an added to my understanding, particularly with pointers to pointers by including well thought out text and pictures well done. It also provides a good tutorial into basic GCC usage and the peculirities of programming for Linux, I recomend it.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you want to learn to program on Linux, this is the book, September 13, 2002

By 

Christopher Culver - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself C for Linux Programming in 21 Days (Paperback)

Sam's TEACH YOURSELF C FOR LINUX IN 21 DAYS is the ideal book for the total beginner wanting to program in Linux. C is the dominant language on Linux, as the kernel and most GNU and GNOME apps are written in it, and this book teaches C in a clear manner without expecting the reader to already know programming concepts.

The book opens with a few chapters of basic C program structure and the mathematical functions needed to perform tasks. After that, it immediately introduces three key programming concepts: strings and streams (inputing from and outputing to an external source). While most programming books don't discuss these concepts until late in the book, keeping the reader caged in mere theory without being able to make a useful program, TEACH YOURSELF C FOR LINUX introduces them early so that the learner can immediately start producing useful programs to solve common tasks.

While Sam's guide to C++ programming on Linux is actually just its generic C++ guide with a few token Linux references, happily Sam's TEACH YOURSELF C FOR LINUX is really solid on Linux and its authors are have actual experience in open-source design.

My only complaints are the limited coverage of structs, which can really make C programming easier and more powerful if used correctly, and of the GNU C Library. The glibc info documentation is so concise and difficult to follow that beginners need a better guide, and it's a shame that this book didn't provide it. The book is also three years old, so its chapter on GUI programing with GTK is somewhat out of date now that GTK2 has been released, although porting a GTK+ app to GTK2 is not a lot of work.

Linux is a platform where luckily all the tools one needs to get started programming are shipped free, and contribution to free (or "open-source") is encouraged. If you want to capitalize on the advantages of the platform, Sam's TEACH YOURSELF C PROGRAMMING FOR LINUX is the way to go.