Thread: C Book Recommendations

Pointers On C
Kenneth A. Reek
ISBN = 0673999866

Good for programmers experienced with other languages who want to learn C. Covers pointers very well, and has lots of practical advice and examples, not just academic toy examples. Covers stdlib fairly well too. Covers basic data structures: linked lists, stacks, queues, and trees. Covers common idioms.

Not good for beginners to programming.

I used K&R, but did not find that I learned pointers and dynamic memory well enough to dig into UNIX system programming and device drivers. This book covered the gap very well. I highly recommend it for anybody who has experience with another language and wants to learn C.

I can't remember the book name.

written by : DENIS RICHIEE ( creator of 'c') nice book to understand c.

Originally Posted by abhijeetnayak

I can't remember the book name.

written by : DENIS RICHIEE ( creator of 'c') nice book to understand c.

It turns out that Mr. Ritchie has actually written several books, but you are probably talking about The C Programming Language, 2nd Ed. Please post with all the necessary information next time.

We're using "Programming, Problem Solving, and Abstraction with C" by Alistair Moffat at uni.
It's extremely good, it is a from scratch book. It has lots of good diagrams and lots of code. It explains things really well for people who have never programmed before. It also teaches good style and teaches good ways of doing things.
The other thing that the author has done through the book is explain the process of designing programs properly so that you don't run into problems because of how complex your program has become.

Let us C by Yeshwanth Kanitkar - I got this book from my college
library. This is a popular book and is available everywhere. The language
used is simple and is the best for beginners.
It is a MUST for all beginners! and is in pretty simple language too!

The C Programming Language by Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie.
A must, but may be complemented with Google and many other books

C++ , The Complete Reference by Herb Schildt.
Pros: A huge (1k page) reference to the entire language + the standard libraries. Although it is a "reference", it makes a good learning tool as well while being significantly more analytical and thorough than most other programming books. Devotes a quarter of the book to the standard C subset of C++, which is great for anyone who is only concerned with c.
Cons : Writing style is extremely information dense and may be too dry for some readers. There are no exercises or problems for the reader (it is a "reference", after all). Additionally, the book assumes some prior programming experience on the part of the reader and is not a good read to learn what loops or variables (or other basic concepts) are.

Originally Posted by aufather

C How to Program by Deitel and Deitel

The books really nice for beginners to start out with a modern compiler like VC++ and starts from the basics. It also has special boxes for common errors performance tips portability tips etc.

Also they teach you a method to implement a problem. Then after they introduce us to a new topic(say arrays) the old problem is revisited and implemented using the new concept(arrays) and shows us how arrays has made the implementation more elegant.
This really helps in developing a coding style for beginners.

It also comes in a low-priced edition, affordable for students like me.
I use this book, it can deliver the idea efficiently.

I have to agree with Sven that the C All-in-one-desk-reference For Dummies by Dan Gookin is the best for learning. Plus, because of the random stuff you never need to remember but might just sometimes use (such as the Hungarian Naming Convention), you can just keep it next to your box and it has most of the info in.

Hi I'm Chris. I'm new to the forums and new to C and to programming in general.

Do online tutorials count? Because I'm using How C Programming Works in conjunction with a regular paperback.

The book I am using is about 20 years old called A Book on C by Al Kelley and Ira Pohl. It seems fairly decent. But I am probably no judge.

This is a great book. Teach yourself C in 21 days

You can find this here link removed

IT IS FREE.

[moderator edit]
There is no evidence to suggest that the publisher of this text has either taken a part in, or authorized the distribution of a complete ebook. Additionally, the link given strongly suggests illegal activity and has been removed. Note that promoting criminal activities on this forum may result in the banning of a member account.
[/moderator edit]

someone mentioned ivor horton earlier

the guy is a hack
man
i bought his book beginning c, the first programming book i ever bought, horrible, and as many reviews say, its just plain WRONG

the guy clearly has no idea what hes doing

everyone knows k&r2 is great, maybe a bit steep for beginners though
what i started with (along side k&r)
is steve summit's c tutorial:
http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/cclass/cclass.html

god it made it so much easier lol
if youre a beginner and ya dont wanna pay $100 for that textbook by king that everyone recommends
try the steve summit tutorial

Originally Posted by petesnook

Can anyone recommend a book which includes a good reference to the C library functions, i.e. what they do, what they return etc ? I have a couple of 'learn to program C' books, but neither are very comprehensive when it comes to the functions.

O'Reilly's C: In A Nutshell has documentation for the entire standard C library along with some very helpfull information to C newcommers (like myself) on how to use it [the C language].

Hope this is helpfull.