[olug] C book recs

[Rob Townley]

I'd have to agree that the K&R C book is a great programming book, but
it is challenging for a beginner.  I think you will want multiple
books, including an easy one as well such as __The Waite Group's New C
Primer Plus__  by MItchell Waite and Stephen Prata.

Why not start first with learning C++, you will find compilers and
input behavior more standardized than C especially when writing
portable code across multiple platforms.  Learn C++ first, you can
learn straight C later.

Even if for some reason (say you want to write device drivers or
maintain old C code) you have your mind set on learning C first, you
may want to use the g++ instead of gcc compiler so that switching
between C and C++ is as painless as possible.  There is a bunch of
different forms of syntax across the different versions of C and C++,
there is no need to learn more than one in the beginning.  Someday,
you may have to maintain some old code, by that time, you will be
experienced enough to recognize it as a different style of C, but it
will not be a problem to pick up on the fly.


On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 21:57:52 -0800 (PST), Eric Pierce
<eric_olug at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I'm looking to dig deep into C, and I want everyone's recommendations for
> texts.
> 
> Now do I need to focus on books after ANSI C was standardized on?  Wasn't that
> around 1998 or so?
> 
> My wife has Deitel/Deitel's 'How to Program C' but the edition came out in
> 1994. I've also looked at O'Reilly's 'Practical C' 3rd edition, but it's from
> 1997.  So are these books not useful anymore?
> 
> Thanks for any input,
> Eric Pierce
> 
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