[Solved] Advice on modern c project based book

[lahatiel]

Subject says it all really. I did browse through few books but they eiter are ooutdate (Practical C Programming by Steve Oualline), scorned by C community (Zed A. Shaw) or not suitable for beginners (Modern C or 21st Century C). I know about Definitive C Book List on StackOverflow but neither of those books seems to be based on real word projects. Any advice will be appreciated!

[Kurajber]

Saying a book about the language that haven't changed that much in all these years is "outdated" is absolute nonsense.


Just like you have to learn how to lay bricks first to be able to build a house, you have to go over the basics of language and do simple, "outdated" tasks to be able to do "real world projects" eventually. And I have to disappoint you - it can take a very long time to get there.


As I understood your post, you expect some super-duper book that will get you straight to the cool stuff (although you also picked a wrong lang if that's your goal) without much previous knowledge. If I maybe misunderstood, feel free to point it out.

[lahatiel]

As I understood your post, you expect some super-duper book that will get you straight to the cool stuff (although you also picked a wrong lang if that's your goal) without much previous knowledge. If I maybe misunderstood, feel free to point it out.

I picked up C to start with is because its rawness and not hidding things from the programmer. For example, pointers, of which i just have a less than faint idea. By real word project I meant small cli utilities performing useful tasks, nothing more.

You're correct, I don't know enough about C to call any book "outdated". My reasoning was introduction of C11 but then again, I don't know how much it changed the language itself.

Would you recommed Ouailline's book as a good starting point?

[iikibT]

If you are just starting learning C, it will make almost no difference to you if the book was written about C99 or C11. Also note that many compilers don't implement strict standards (if you are compiling with GCC, you can check out GNU C manual, but again, it doesn't really matter).

I picked up C to start with is because its rawness and not hidding things from the programmer.

If you want to learn how things work "under the hood" you might also want to learn assembly - it will give you a much better understanding about how C and higher programming languages work.

[lahatiel]

If you want to learn how things work "under the hood" you might also want to learn assembly - it will give you a much better understanding about how C and higher programming languages work.

One thing at the time! It will take me months to write something meaingful in C on my own, then *maybe* I could look into assembly. But it looks #$!?& scary.

Your advice is spot on - I'm just starting, so it doesn't really matter where or how I'll start. Practical C Programming then it is!

[matias]

Your advice is spot on - I'm just starting, so it doesn't really matter where or how I'll start. Practical C Programming then it is!

Actually, it does matter where you start. I strongly recommend you to buy or download "The C programming languaje", by Kernighan & Ritchie. I know you probably heard of it before, or saw it in the stackoverflow-book list, but I think no one told you about its importance.

K&R (as many call it) was the first book of C, written by no other than the developers of the languaje. If you are serious about learning C and want to reach a deep knowledge of the subject, this is the right (if not only) book to start. Only after reading it and doing as many of its exercises as you can (and more), I would recommend you to continue with other C programming books. "Modern" ones, are not always the best... specially for this matter.

[lahatiel]

I already bought Oualline's book, for now that will keep me busy. I was considering K&R and the only reason I decided to go with Practical C Programming is its wider scope. I'm not talking here about the C language itself but but things like advice on style or real-life examples (statistics releated program). There's as well discussion of a life cycle of a software - from idea, through specification and actual coding, to release and maintenance.

Those things are very helpful for someone who's experience of source code is occasional patching or make install. I want to approach K&R after I will gain at least basic understanding of the whole 'programming' thing.

[spaceman]

Just for start go with heads first c it will give you gentle introduction, then after that book or parallely with that book go with Stphens Prata C Primer Plus cause i think it will extend your knowledge with more examples and approaches.

[lahatiel]

Cheers for the recommendation but as I said, I'm already going through Practical C Programming which will be followed by K&R. I might look into the C Primer Plus at a later date.