[Ilugc] A good 'C' book?
- From: skarra@xxxxxxxxx (Sriram Karra)
- Date: Fri May 26 14:35:19 2006
On 5/26/06, Kumar Appaiah <kumar.appaiah@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Don't know about kernel code. But THE book you MUST have for C is "The
C Programming Language", by Dennis Ritchie and Brian Kernighan. Costs
Rs.95 (MRP), andwill teach you not just C, but some style and
paradigms of programming.
The latest edition of K&R was written in 1988 - that's nearly two
decades ago. C has changed quite a bit since that time. The biggest
change has been the adoption of C99 as the latest standard[0].
Kernighan and Ritchie have denied any plans of upgrading their book
for c99. The classic is great, but there are better and more modern
resources for the advanced/advancing C programmer these days.
There are three specific publications that I would highly recommend
for a reasonably experienced C programmer who wants to take his/her
understanding of the language to the next level:
1. C: A Reference Manual, by Samuel P. Harbison, and Guy L. Steele Jr.
This book is hugely underrated in 'popular' circles - it hardly gets
any mentioned in responses to 'What book for C' type queries. The
book is of the highest quality, in terms of comprehensiveness, clarity
of expression, and utility as a user-friendly reference book. It is
also far more frequently updated, and is currently in its fifth
edition.
2. "Expert C Programming: Deep Sea Secrets", by Peter Van der Linden.
A brilliantly written book. Technical books would be so much more
popular if written like this one. This touches on advanced topics
only, and you cannot call yourself an expert in C if you are not fully
comfortable with the entire contents of this book. To be read from
cover to cover.
3. Lastly, once you have seen it all, there is The Real Thing - the
ISO Standard itself. This is the ultimate reference, as this is what
compiler writers and language lawyers on comp.std.c etc. refer to.
The print version is outrageously expensive, but a PDF is available
for approx $30 (was $18 when I bought my copy ... ) - for a serious
professional C programmer it's worth every paisa of that. You can buy
your copy here:
http://webstore.ansi.org/ansidocstore/product.asp?sku=INCITS%2FISO%2FIEC+9899%2D1999
-Karra
[0]:
http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/
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