C Programming: A Modern Approach (Paperback)

by K. N. King (Author), K.N. King (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
... this book will be well received because of its unique approach to the presentation of the material; it is full of examples and insights. King does not stop--as many others do--in merely explaining how the C programming language works. His well-written and well-organized book is full of advice and explanations of best practices in how to use the language most effectively. One of the most welcome aspects is that King identifies C programming 'idioms,' explains when the idioms are applicable, and shows why they are useful. The book is aimed at people with no prior programming experience, yet it is quite comprehensive in its treatment of the majority of C programming concepts. It is up-to-date in that it also covers the information needed by a C programmer in using the standard C library... -- Choice, September, 1996

A few years ago, I decided to switch from Fortran (which I had used for over 20 years) to C. I purchased about a dozen different books purporting to explain how to use the C language. Most were densely unreadable, few had a usable index, and some were riddled with errors. Now comes the book I really wanted... It is apparent that this book was written by someone who has spent time teaching the subject. The writing style is entertaining and clear. There are many good examples... Best of all, the index takes you right to the part of the book you need--it is not too sparse, and it is not cluttered with irrelevant references. The first time I picked up this book I quickly found the solution to a file-reading bug which had perplexed me for months. I am placing this book at the top of my heap of programming texts, and I am recommending it to all of my programming colleagues. -- Journal of Chemical Information and Computer Sciences, September/October, 1996

The exceptional value of the book lies in the fact that the material is well structured and is made accessible to anyone with minimal programming experience, to those unfamiliar with C, and even to those who do not know any programming language... The book accomplishes the author's stated goal of making it the ideal classroom textbook with examples... Reading this book was extremely useful, both because I have discovered new things in it and, first and foremost, because it has helped me to restructure my knowledge of C. -- Computing Reviews, February, 1997

Product Description
This introduction to the C programming language is based on the C ANSI dialect and is usable with all ANSI-compatible compilers and all operating systems. The three main parts of the text are: basic grounding in C; advanced topics and program writing; and a reference apparatus.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 661 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (February 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393969452
• ISBN-13: 978-0393969450
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #309,567 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For the Serious Student or Up-and-coming C Programmer, May 27, 2000

By	Raymond Woo (Fort Worth, Texas) - See all my reviews

I have browsed some C and C++ books in major bookstores to see how the materials are organized and presented. This one was not a book I had a chance to browse, but one which I had to buy for an extension course (Introductory C Programming) at UCLA last summer.

At first I thought King's book was hard because of a certain depth of penetration into elements of good programming practices with examples one after another. As I became serious and started to reading intently, I found out how effective King was in paving the way toward a comprehensive understanding of C programming through worked out code and annotations. King is very skilled in breaking down and building up C code, unlike certain celebrated C programming language experts who apparently do not care to be clear or are simply ineffective. So my conclusion is: Read this each chapter of this book very closely, carefully and seriously, and try to understand every last point King is raising. Also, do not neglect working out some of his exercises at the end of each chapter for the benefit of practice as well as learning C. In almost every chapter of the book, he gives very good, organized and annotated but not tedious and complex examples. The problems are generally reasonable and hardly ever too complicated because I never found them overwhelming, either from a coding perspective or mathematically. Perhaps it is because King comes across as someone who emphasizes organization, detail, clarity and explanation in his style of presentation. There are no problems dealing with heavy scientific or engineering applications for those who dread them.

Great points: (1) Fundamentals - beginning chapters goes into detail for a solid grounding of C language basics (syntax, etc.); and (2) Pointers - excellent exposition with examples, diagrams and exercises, extremely well presented for the starters who easily get confused by what pointers in C are all about; and (3) Ideas are very well connected from chapter to chapter -- some chapters are even as great as stand-alone ones for referencing. The only problems I found were: (1) Description of struct types, which are passed by value from function to function -- implied but not clearly or succintly stated in the book (compare the description in the excellent book by Kelley and Pohl, "A Book in C"); (2) Chapter on program design, which I found to be very terse and scanty in terms of information topics about designing medium size to large C programs -- also jumps into encapsulation and C++ too soon and leaves out one too many basic ideas in C program organization -- "Look before you leap", C++ is object-oriented, and is therefore much more complex and evolved, so why do too much of C++ when one must learn basics of ANSI C well beforehand!

For some reason, I feel strongly that King is following the writing style and presentation of the classical work in C programming by Kernighan and Ritchie. He even discusses the significant contributions of Kernighan in establishing the C language as the mainstay of modern programming for all kinds of applications. There are some uncanny resemblance in style and other parallels I sense in his book. King also retains a lot of the clarity in thinking and intrinsic simplicity reflected in Kernighan and Ritchie's writing style.

Because of the lengthy chapters and reading required, this is not the best ANSI C reference book in my view. Kelley and Pohl's excellent paperback, entitled "A Book in C", does far better in that respect. However, King has more good illustrated examples in his book for the newcomer. You will like his book if you like Kernighan and Ritchie's paperback classic. In fact, King has more for you. The only caveat may be that any newcomer would be well advised to try to understand a little about C before attempting to read the book, because only afterwards does King's treatment only makes sense and becomes meaningful and stimulating. Also, it may help out considerably if one finds a good instructor to teach ANSI C in formal classroom environment using King's book here (as I did last summer at UCLA Extension).

All in all: A very good no-nonsense book for the motivated beginner in C programming.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learning C is easy with this book, July 25, 2004

By	William Rockwell (Chatsworth, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the second of King's books I have purchased. It is also the second that I am very very pleased with.

This book presents a quick systematic clear way of learning to program in C period. This has to be the easiest programming book I have ever read that goes beyond absolute basics.

Frankly I don't understand the few negative reviews others have given the book. Yes it would have been nice to have answers to the exercises. However this is a programming book, you get the answers yourself by doing the work. Mistakes are readily apparent, simply because it won't work!

In terms of difficulty, the exercises are doable. There have been a few that did stump me.....for a little while. With a bit of rereading and some experimenting, I have managed to answer all that I have attempted.

Do yourself a favor if you are learning C and buy the book either as a stand alone or as a supplement to another book.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The excelence in writing, June 3, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Study Guide for C Programming: A Modern Approach (Paperback)

In the short period of time I've been in programming I've had a chance to read a variety of programming tutorials as well as references covering several different languages, no other book I've read in any programming langage from any author comes close to this one. This book covers the entire C language in a very clearly explained, to the point, and entertaining manner. This book is both an excelant tutorial as well as a very usefull C language referance. After reading this book you'll know all you need to know to get into C programming. Every time you read this book you'll become more of a C language guru, for there is a lot on every page and even between the lines.