book on C

[Paul]

Today I went out to a book store in search of a good book on C,
I know quite a lot of C already so I wasnt looking for one of those
"Learn C in 21 Days" type of books, I was more after a book that
would serve as a reference and I could look at when my memory
had failed me and needed refreshing. I had numerous choices as
far as C reference books, The one I chose is called

"The Complete reference, C, fourth edition"
Published by osborne, Author Herbert Schildt

Anyone got any opinions on whether this was a good/poor
choice or has different recommendations . I am going to build
up a library of programming books, so just looking for opinions.

Cheers

[Keith Thompson]

"Paul" <pa**@rtfm.or g> writes:

Today I went out to a book store in search of a good book on C,
I know quite a lot of C already so I wasnt looking for one of those
"Learn C in 21 Days" type of books, I was more after a book that
would serve as a reference and I could look at when my memory
had failed me and needed refreshing. I had numerous choices as
far as C reference books, The one I chose is called

"The Complete reference, C, fourth edition"
Published by osborne, Author Herbert Schildt

Schildt is notorious for writing books that seem to be well-written,
but that are full of dangerous misinformation. He's particularly bad
about distinguishing between standard C and system-specific features.

See <http://www.lysator.liu .se/c/schildt.html> for a detailed
review of one of his books.

I'm not familiar with the book you picked up. I've heard that Schildt
has improved, but not by much.

Harbison & Steele's "C: A Reference Manual", currently in its 5th
edition, is good.

--
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keit h) ks***@mib.org <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
San Diego Supercomputer Center <*> <http://users.sdsc.edu/~kst>
We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this.

[CBFalconer]

Paul wrote:

Today I went out to a book store in search of a good book on C,
I know quite a lot of C already so I wasnt looking for one of those
"Learn C in 21 Days" type of books, I was more after a book that
would serve as a reference and I could look at when my memory
had failed me and needed refreshing. I had numerous choices as
far as C reference books, The one I chose is called

"The Complete reference, C, fourth edition"
Published by osborne, Author Herbert Schildt

Anyone got any opinions on whether this was a good/poor
choice or has different recommendations . I am going to build
up a library of programming books, so just looking for opinions.

Congratulations . You have made the worst possible choice for your
objectives. You now are the proud possessor of BullSchildt. If
you can get your money back, do so. If not, burn the book to avoid
influencing the young and innocent. Then get the reliable K & R
"The C Programming Language".

--
"If you want to post a followup via groups.google.c om, don't use
the broken "Reply" link at the bottom of the article. Click on
"show options" at the top of the article, then click on the
"Reply" at the bottom of the article headers." - Keith Thompson

[Paul]

"CBFalconer " <cb********@yah oo.com> wrote in message
news:42******** ******@yahoo.co m...

Congratulations . You have made the worst possible choice for your
objectives. You now are the proud possessor of BullSchildt. If
you can get your money back, do so. If not, burn the book to avoid
influencing the young and innocent. Then get the reliable K & R
"The C Programming Language".

Wow. that was brutally up front. There was a book by that title there by
K&R.
But it seemed very short, maybe 100 pages or so.

Could you elaborate on why you think my choice was bad?

[infobahn]

Paul wrote:

"CBFalconer " <cb********@yah oo.com> wrote in message
news:42******** ******@yahoo.co m...

Congratulations . You have made the worst possible choice for your
objectives. You now are the proud possessor of BullSchildt. If
you can get your money back, do so. If not, burn the book to avoid
influencing the young and innocent. Then get the reliable K & R
"The C Programming Language".

Wow. that was brutally up front.

Well, you did ask.
There was a book by that title there by K&R.
But it seemed very short, maybe 100 pages or so.
272 pages of closely-packed information. They squeezed out all the
padding, and just left you the info. If page count is what matters
to you, buy a few reams of printer paper. It's a lot cheaper that
way.
Could you elaborate on why you think my choice was bad?

Peter Seebach, a member of ISO, has already covered this:

http://herd.plethora.net/~seebs/c/c_tcr.html

I don't know which edition he was reviewing, but I have a copy
of the 2nd edition which is riddled with errors. I have browsed
the 4th edition in a bookstore, and found that to be riddled with
errors too.

*Some* errors are inevitable, but C-TCR makes a mockery of the
idea of actually learning your subject before you publish a book
about it. In an introductory text, that's unforgiveable.

[Christian Bau]

In article <42************ ***********@new s.optusnet.com. au>,
"Paul" <pa**@rtfm.or g> wrote:

"CBFalconer " <cb********@yah oo.com> wrote in message
news:42******** ******@yahoo.co m...

Congratulations . You have made the worst possible choice for your
objectives. You now are the proud possessor of BullSchildt. If
you can get your money back, do so. If not, burn the book to avoid
influencing the young and innocent. Then get the reliable K & R
"The C Programming Language".

Wow. that was brutally up front. There was a book by that title there by
K&R.
But it seemed very short, maybe 100 pages or so.

Could you elaborate on why you think my choice was bad?

As a test for advanced C programmers: Pick a random page of "The
Annotated C Standard", then find all the errors on that page.

[infobahn]

Christian Bau wrote:

As a test for advanced C programmers: Pick a random page of "The
Annotated C Standard", then find all the errors on that page.

Optimisation exercise: confine your analysis to the - well, I don't
have the book, but I think HS's annotations are on the right-hand
pages. The text of the Standard itself is - *on the whole* - free
of errors (with occasional exceptions such as those noted by
Clive Feather).

[Old Wolf]

Christian Bau wrote:

"Paul" <pa**@rtfm.or g> wrote:

There was a book by that title there by K&R.
But it seemed very short, maybe 100 pages or so.

Quality, not quantity.
As a test for advanced C programmers: Pick a random page of "The
Annotated C Standard", then find all the errors on that page.

A page on the left side, or a page on the right side?

[Jesse Meyer]

infobahn <in******@btint ernet.com> wrote:

[re: K&R]

272 pages of closely-packed information. They squeezed out all the
padding, and just left you the info. If page count is what matters
to you, buy a few reams of printer paper. It's a lot cheaper that
way.

I hate to say it, but I found K&R a poor teaching solution because of
its density. Its worth owning as an excellent reference, but for some
people (myself included) its a poor "starter" book[1].

The book I did use to teach myself the basics of C is very, very out of
print and somewhat out of date -- therefore I can't recommend a good
"slow-learner's" beginner's book on c.

I did find the C FAQ informative after learning a bit of C. And I can
strongly recommend 'C Unleashed' as your second or third book. Hanging
out in the appropriate IRC channels can be quite informative as well.

[1] I don't know why I had such a problem with K&R. Usually my brain
likes densely packed information.

--
With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine. However, this is
not necessarily a good idea. It is hard to be sure where they
are going to land, and it could be dangerous sitting under them
as they fly overhead. -- RFC 1925

[infobahn]

Jesse Meyer wrote:

I hate to say it, but I found K&R a poor teaching solution because of
its density. Its worth owning as an excellent reference, but for some
people (myself included) its a poor "starter" book[1].

The book I did use to teach myself the basics of C is very, very out of
print and somewhat out of date -- therefore I can't recommend a good
"slow-learner's" beginner's book on c.

C Programming: A Modern Approach, K.N.King, W.W.Norton & Company, 1996.
ISBN 0-393-96945-2

C: How to Program, 2nd Ed. Deitel, H.M. & Deitel, P.J. Prentice Hall,
1994.
ISBN 0-13-226119-7