Thread: Which method should be used for learning Programming Lanquage book?

  1. #1
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    Wink Which method should be used for learning Programming Lanquage book?

    Just to ask some question. Which method should be used for learning Programming Lanquage book? .... I am not sure that we should read and try to coding also for every chapters while I read a book and example. So, after that ? what should we do for the next thing? .... I mean that after I read one book finish, Everyone can call me Programmer? (suppose I can write and understand all example in book).


    Second question, how I can remember all standard function of C/C++ what is the scope which we should know when we study function in C/C++ libraly?

    Thank you very much,

    ===LINKIN PARK is COOL===

  2. #2
    Mayor of Awesometown Govtcheez's Avatar
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    > ===LINKIN PARK is COOL===

    Um... kay?

    Learning from books is different for everyone. Some people like to fiddle with every example program in there and figure out what's going on. Some people just blow through the book and pick it all up anyways. Experiment.

    > how I can remember all standard function of C/C++

    Well, you could memorize them from a book, or remember them as you use them again and again.

    > what is the scope which we should know when we study function in C/C++ libraly?

    What?

  3. #3
    Code Goddess Prelude's Avatar
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    >Which method should be used for learning Programming Lanquage book?
    It's best to read a chapter, try out the examples, and do the exercises at the end before moving to the next chapter. Of course, this is just a suggestion as I read the book completely through and dogear the interesting parts for later return.

    >I mean that after I read one book finish, Everyone can call me Programmer?
    Don't count on it. You need more than just the information from one book. Before I even considered calling myself a C programmer I had about twenty books on varying subjects concerning C and had worked with the language to the point where I could get a clean compile and run on just about any trivial program. But everyone is different, I'm very careful about calling myself something that I'm not sure I am.

    >suppose I can write and understand all example in book
    That would be a very good thing. Most people who read a book don't completely understand all of the concepts given in it and don't try to figure them out, they simply move on and assume that they know enough.

    >how I can remember all standard function of C/C++
    You shouldn't try to memorize them all. I find that it is better to remember only what the standard libraries are capable of in a general sense. That way when I come across a problem that would be solved with a standard library function, I remember that the library supports the solution and I then search for the correct function. This saves me from needless memorization of details that could be better spent on concepts that are more difficult or not documented as well.

    >what is the scope which we should know when we study function in C/C++ libraly?
    You may want to reword this question, but I'll take a hack at it anyway and hope I'm right. The basic I/O functions, string handling functions, utility functions, and character handling functions would be the best start. For simple console programs I find myself using those the most often. The headers are:

    stdio.h
    string.h
    stdlib.h
    ctype.h

    Learn them and you should be covered for the more common techniques in C. Next you should become familiar with the better part of

    time.h
    limits.h
    math.h

    Past those are what I consider the "advanced" headers that you probably won't be using for a while. The first list you should memorize the majority of since you will be using them on a regular basis, the second list you only need to remember what operations can be done with the functions contained in the headers. For details of the second list, obscure items from the first, and any other headers you should keep a good reference book handy.

    In time you'll end up memorizing everything through constant usage, but that is the natural end result of using the libraries for many years. There's no need for such perfect recall if you have a good reference (of which there are plenty).

    -Prelude
    My best code is written with the delete key.

  4. #4
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    Four years ago, when I was a naïve beginner in C programming, I surveyed people's opinions of the best book to learn the language, bought Kernighan & Ritchie's The C Programming Language, flicked through it, tried some of the programs from the first chapter and then thought "This is sooo easy. I don't need any more books, it's time to start being t3h l33t c0d3rz". So I started up Turbo C, tried to write a primitive graphical Connect 4 clone, and although the code compiled fine, the program kept crashing at startup, just as it was allocating 64KB of memory for a splash screen (It had already allocated another 25KB for in-game graphics). I added simple error checking to the allocation routines and it always failed, no matter what I did. Little did I know about [Vincent Price voice]the horrrors[/Vincent Price voice] of real-mode memory management!

    Moving back to the present, I'm still referring to K&R on a regular basis, as well as Petzold's Programming Windows 95 and occasionally a book on Assembly Language. Over time, I've written simple games, a word processor and some online auction management software (Can't get info from the net though, natch). I'm still not a "pro", but I'm getting there.

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