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I am considering buying a C reference book. The two I have in mind are:
- C: A Reference Manual, by Samuel P. Harbison and Guy L. Steele
- The Standard C Library by P.J. Plauger
Now I know both of these books usually are recommended, so in that light it seems hard to choose. For one thing are they fairly comparable, or is having both books worthwhile? (No sense in redundancy).
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redundancy is your best friendQuote:
No sense in redundancy
Redundancy and repetion and redundancy are the keys to learning, my young Padawan.
Well for research purposes, cross referencing is never a bad idea...
If you know the language and are just using them as references, there is no sense in too much redundancy. I'm not familiar enough with the books to recommend one over the other, though.
You just have to pick one and later either regret it or satisfied with it. Been there done that. You don't know the value of a book until you read it through, not just skim through it in the bookstore (have u done it btw?).
Both are worth having simply because they serve different purposes. The former is a language reference that comes close to the C standard in accuracy while still maintaing an approachable air. There are subtle mistakes though, so it would also be wise to buy the standard for cross-referencing. The latter focuses exclusively on the C standard library, and rather than just giving definitions and simple examples, a full explanation is made on what the standard says (pre-C99), how each part should/could be used, and a full implementation. The source has mistakes here and there, but for the most part the code is of a high quality and can be learned from with confidence.