Thread: how to become much better in C

Hi all,

i was learning about C since a while.
I used the book (Sams C in 21 days). It's a bit old, but good.
I typed all the code examples, read almost everything. I feel like i know the basics now.

However my goal is to become much better, an expert...
my question how can i improve my C-skills, i know i should practice more, try to solve some problems and so on, but i don't where to start..

Do you have any ideas ? any websites with some small projects or exercices with solutions ?

many thanks in advance

have you head of project Euler it gets you thinking about what you need to do to solve a problem only complaint i have is they give a small example that the answer is small then ask what the 1000th one would be which is a big number when they could just as easily ask what the 100th was or the 50th, Have you done linked lists (single, double and circular) then there are other data storage methods.

if you go down the list of topics you will find one from me asking pretty much the same thing (i think someone commented on it yesterday)

Hey cooper,

no never heard of "project Euler", i will take a look at it,
yes i have done lists, but so far only single, and that is what of he topics i want to improve with some exercices....i am planing to read a second book (C++), and i know they handle double linked lists...

This very website offers a book I just skimmed through which moves you into C++, and if you know the basics of C, I highly recommend that you consider C++ next, then move into the study of data structures and algorithms. Games and 3D are a fun study there.

double linked lists can be done in c just as easily only difference is rather than having just a next point in the node struct you have a previous pointer in the struct as well. this saves you having to scroll through the list keeping track of the current node and the previous node.

i c everything..... i wouldn't judge trees by my efforts there are lots of mistakes and errors that are fixed along the way im not sure what an oct tree is but if it follows the same naming as a binary tree ie 2 nodes to a branch it must be a nightmare.

Hi, Scatman.

I am in the same boat as you. I now understand the basics of C and hoping to improve my skills.

One thing that helped me to better understand the language is writing small programs that help me with my daily life, such as counting the number of files in a directory or look up a word on the dictionary.

There are plenty of GitHub repos that offer programming projects, ranging from easy to hard, that'll put much of what you've learned to the test.

Hope that helps.

Originally Posted by cooper1200

have you head of project Euler it gets you thinking about what you need to do to solve a problem only complaint i have is they give a small example that the answer is small then ask what the 1000th one would be which is a big number when they could just as easily ask what the 100th was or the 50th, Have you done linked lists (single, double and circular) then there are other data storage methods.

Exactly what I was going to say - To get good at something, you need to practice.

Project Euler is a great spot for practice problems

"C Unleashed" is a good book for non-beginners.


Here is an advanced book that is actually enjoyable to read...
Expert C Programming: Deep C Secrets - Peter Van der Linden - Google Books

Hi Catacombs,

Yeah that is a nice idea, to just think of real scenarios in daily life
thanks and good luck

Exactly! One day you might not think of anything. Then, while you're working, you'll think, "Man, I wish I could just do this with one command," and boom, there's your idea.