C book recommendations

[Peter Goddard]

Hello,
I'm looking for C programming book which describes the finer points
of C programming. Even though I've been doing it for years, I always have a
feeling that it could be done better with more elegant code. Any suggestions
would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Peter.

 

[Emmanuel Delahaye]

Peter Goddard wrote on 14/05/05 :

I'm looking for C programming book which describes the finer points
of C programming. Even though I've been doing it for years, I always have a
feeling that it could be done better with more elegant code. Any suggestions
would be greatly appreciated.

Two monuments:

Beginners
http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/cbook/

Experts
http://users.powernet.co.uk/eton/unleashed/

If you are a poor student or if you think that books are too expansive
for you (it may happen in some places in the world), here is a good
in-line-book:

http://publications.gbdirect.co.uk/c_book/


In addition, here is a good site for experts:

http://web.torek.net/torek/c/

Enjoy.

--
Emmanuel
The C-FAQ: http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/faq.html
The C-library: http://www.dinkumware.com/refxc.html

I once asked an expert COBOL programmer, how to
declare local variables in COBOL, the reply was:
"what is a local variable?"

 

[Peter Goddard]

Thanks, I'll check them out.
Cheers

Peter.

Peter Goddard wrote on 14/05/05 :

Two monuments:

Beginners
http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/cbook/

Experts
http://users.powernet.co.uk/eton/unleashed/

If you are a poor student or if you think that books are too expansive for
you (it may happen in some places in the world), here is a good
in-line-book:

http://publications.gbdirect.co.uk/c_book/


In addition, here is a good site for experts:

http://web.torek.net/torek/c/

Enjoy.

--
Emmanuel
The C-FAQ: http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/faq.html
The C-library: http://www.dinkumware.com/refxc.html

I once asked an expert COBOL programmer, how to
declare local variables in COBOL, the reply was:
"what is a local variable?"

 

[Martin Ambuhl]

Experts
http://users.powernet.co.uk/eton/unleashed/

If you are a poor student or if you think that books are too expansive
for you (it may happen in some places in the world),

You probably mean "expensive." The book may be too expansive for some,
but that has little to do with the part of the world one lives in.

 

[Emmanuel Delahaye]

Martin Ambuhl wrote on 14/05/05 :

You probably mean "expensive." The book may be too expansive for some, but
that has little to do with the part of the world one lives in.

Ah sh*t! I tried and I failed again. Yes, expensive, of course.

--
Emmanuel
The C-FAQ: http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/faq.html
The C-library: http://www.dinkumware.com/refxc.html

"Clearly your code does not meet the original spec."
"You are sentenced to 30 lashes with a wet noodle."
-- Jerry Coffin in a.l.c.c++

 

[Bilgehan.Balban]

You might try "Expert C programming" by Peter Van Linden. Not only its
a very good book, it also describes things in a funny way. It covers
various subtleties and tips. I also liked the bits about linking, how
the sections are produced and libraries are searched for linking. That
said, I think one needs to go even beyond this book.

If you want to know more about how things work in memory, I could
recommend "Memory as a programming concept in C and C++". You get a
better understanding of how programming constructs are interpreted in
memory.

I would also read the Gcc extensions in GCC documentation. It includes
various useful constructs that I didn't know about and was surprised to
see.

Bahadir

 

[Emmanuel Delahaye]

I would also read the Gcc extensions in GCC documentation. It includes
various useful constructs that I didn't know about and was surprised to
see.

gcc extensions are certainely exciting, but by-defition, they don't
belong to the C-standard (gnu-c is not C).

Unless gcc is the one and only compiler in the world, gcc-extensions
are not portable. (Not to mention platform-dependent extensions)

--
Emmanuel
The C-FAQ: http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/faq.html
The C-library: http://www.dinkumware.com/refxc.html

"There are 10 types of people in the world today;
those that understand binary, and those that dont."

 

[bahadir.balban]

gcc extensions are certainely exciting, but by-defition, they don't
belong to the C-standard (gnu-c is not C).

Unless gcc is the one and only compiler in the world, gcc-extensions
are not portable. (Not to mention platform-dependent extensions)

I certainly agree with all you said. However, I think gcc is the best
source to learn about and experiment things as its free. Not that I'm
fanatical about GNU/Linux but about ease of learning. Also the
extensions help on brainstorming about various language features, judge
their usefulness, etc. So, you can go beyond what the standard imposes
on you, yet not much moving further away from plain old C.

Bahadir

 

[Emmanuel Delahaye]

on you, yet not much moving further away from plain old C.

Sure, but gnu-c is definitely another language that is not (more than,
who knows?) iso-c, and must be treaded for what it is.

--
Emmanuel
The C-FAQ: http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/faq.html
The C-library: http://www.dinkumware.com/refxc.html

"Clearly your code does not meet the original spec."
"You are sentenced to 30 lashes with a wet noodle."
-- Jerry Coffin in a.l.c.c++

 

[CBFalconer]

I'm looking for C programming book which describes the finer
points of C programming. Even though I've been doing it for years,
I always have a feeling that it could be done better with more
elegant code. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

K & R contains some subleties, besides being an excellent reference
and teaching book. After that I recommend "The Practice of
Programming" by Kernighan and Pike. There are some very good areas
in "C Unleashed", as recommended by others here.

The two best guides are reading others code and evaluating it, and
reworking your own code for clarity and accuracy. Every time you
make a mistake try to evaluate why you erred, and do things to make
that error less likely in the future.

--
Some informative links:
http://www.geocities.com/nnqweb/
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
http://www.caliburn.nl/topposting.html
http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html

 

[Mike Wahler]

Sure, but gnu-c is definitely another language that is not (more than, who
knows?) iso-c, and must be treaded for what it is.

Another 'slip' by Emmanuel causes me to write:

"Don't tread on C".

(Typically only Americans or students of
American history will 'get' this one).




-Mike

 

[Charles Mills]

You might try "Expert C programming" by Peter Van Linden. Not only its
a very good book, it also describes things in a funny way. It covers
various subtleties and tips. I also liked the bits about linking, how
the sections are produced and libraries are searched for linking. That
said, I think one needs to go even beyond this book.

This is a very good recommendation IMHO. Another book worth checking
out that I haven't seen mentioned on this list is 'C Interfaces and
Implementations' by David Hanson.
http://www.cs.princeton.edu/software/cii/

'Expert C programming' and 'C Interfaces and Implementations' are the
two books on C I have enjoyed the most.

-Charle

 

[BGreene]

Another 'slip' by Emmanuel causes me to write:

"Don't tread on C".

(Typically only Americans or students of
American history will 'get' this one).




-Mike

/// Hsssssss.