C Style: Standards and Guidelines : Defining Programming Standards for Professional C Programmers (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Discusses many of the problems of coding style in C. The book aims to enable the readers to create their own standards, rather than imposing what may be arbitrary decisions. This is not a book of standards, but a book about standards.

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall (January 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131168983
• ISBN-13: 978-0131168985
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #435,844 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I use this with MISRA-C., July 24, 2008

By	Kaizen (Japan) - See all my reviews

I use this standards and guidelines with misra-C, C coding standards.
This include followings;
Psychological factor
general principle
commenting
naming
code layout
file layout
language usage
data usage
programming usage
implementing standards

MISRA-C do not include naming and layout.
But there are very important for productivity on team development.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book I've found on the topic., February 10, 2009

By	D. OBRIEN "David E. O'Brien" (Alameda, ca USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Its coverage of the topic of C style guildlines is better than anything else I've found.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Coding Standards: The Learning Experience, October 30, 2006

By	T. Harris "http://talkaboutquality.wordpress.com" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Here's a readable reference on a subject many people love to avoid: coding standards. Why have them? How to choose? How do they help developers? In-depth chapters on the psychology of how people understand code (when they have to read it in order to change it), and on how to deploy a coding standard successfully.

Of course, the bulk of the book is a detailed explanation of almost any kind of item you could put in a coding standard, with reasons and considerations. While these chapters are really a reference, I can see reading through them over time in order to become a better developer. To those who (rightly) are concerned about creativity, consider Straker's response:

"The creative element in programming is more in the design, than in the coding. All but the most stringent standards and the most detailed designs leave plenty of creative scope for the coder. The only creativity that is to be frowned on is that which adds unnecessary complexity to the code."

By the way, the author has recently put the entire text of the book online [...], but I'm still ordering print copies because I'd rather re-read under a tree than at a PC.

Update: Now I've read the print copy -- there's a big difference reading from a book. Straker is thorough, and it's worth reading every word -- there's a temptation to skim and skip online. When you get tired, put the book down and come back to it later. Well worth it!