C Programming Language (2nd Edition)

Rating:
Summary: High Price + Poor Quality Reproduction = Bad Value
Review: I looked at this book in the store, and I have to say that I was very turned off by the poor quality of reproduction. Considering the outrageous price tag, you'd think they could spend some money on decent typesetting. It looks like someone took the first edition and slapped it on an old, fuzzy photocopier. It may be a classic, but that's no excuse for shoddy workmanship. I would get a headache trying to read this whole book, so I will vote with my dollars and find some other way to learn C. If I'm going to put up with strained eyeballs, there are plenty of tutorials I can look at online for free.

Rating:
Summary: seminal but a little outdated
Review: This book deserves the accolades it has received over the years from programmers of all skill and proficiency levels. It truly is concise, where not a single word is wasted in the exposition of any topic.

However, despite its refined terseness, K&R needs to be updated. Exactly how many years old is this book? Too many in my opinion. In order for it to be STILL regarded as the "bible" of C programming, it needs to incorporate both ANSI addenda (ie, C94 and C99).

Rating:
Summary: Perfect...
Review: For all those people excited to learn programming, and especially C programming, who are looking for a good introductory text...stop here. Seriously..do not even consider another C book until after you have thoroughly read this one..(trust me it will only take a week anyhow). This book known simply as "K&R" is the standard, and I can say that on the basis that they created the language. This book touches on the differences between 'Standard' C and 'ANSI' C quite well, also a topic you should know as a programmer...standards. Anyway, this book is extremely short, but packs a huge amount of information about the language, here's a secret C isn't very big at all. Any aspiring programmer should stop and read this text before they move on to any other topics, just learn the language first, then you can introduce yourself to the creative ways to use the language.

Rating:
Summary: What a great book
Review: This is a great book all the examples are alot more interesting when compared to the many other programming books I have read, this book is very old and is still out selling most of the newest programming books for C, and C++. If you wanted to learn C who is better to teach you it than Dennis Ritchie himself one of the creators of the language.

Rating:
Summary: Its title should be "THE Book on C Programming"
Review: This is THE Book. It is written by the people who 'invented' C. I own all three versions of this book, the original edition, the draft ANSI C edition, and the 'final' ANSI C edition.

This book is very concise (it is less than 1/2" thick) so in some chapters it requires careful reading. But it is information straight from the source. As a language book it doesn't dive into the standard C libraries or things normally associated with UNIX programming. But that is OK, its a book on programming in C, not a book on applied C programming. I have other C books, that are thicker (than my three editions of The C Programming Language put together), which don't even come close to the quality of the instruction these books provide.

Rating:
Summary: "Hello, world"
Review: Some people refer to this as the "c" bible. Written by Brian W. Kernighan, and Dennis Ritchie, well known in the C and UNIX field. This book is not cluttered with C++ forcing you to figure out what part is "c".

You may think that this book is not for beginners. However it is actually more of a combination of dictionary and ["The Elements of Style" ISBN: 020530902X] for the "c" language

This does of course include ANSI c, which is transportable to all platforms. It also states that", since the ANSI C library is in many cases modeled on UNIX facilities, this may help your understanding of the library as well."

The language it's self as with any language has its strong points. The main one being pointers. By not duplicating data and not having to movie it all around the application can be lightning fast and the code tight and to the point. Other advantages of the language are pointed out as with bit shifting.

This book should be used as a prerequisite to c communications books.



Rating:
Summary: Learning C the hard way
Review: I originally bought "The C Programming Language" because I quickly needed to acquire skills in C programming.

After working with this book off and on over a period of 4-5 years I have mixed feelings about its usefuleness
either as a tutorial or as a work of reference.

The book lacks structure and organization. After reading it cover to cover the general impression is more of a
compendium of individual papers on various aspects of the C language and its context rather than a real "book". At
a different level this is also reflected in the authors' tendency to alternate the trite and obscure with the
fundamental, making it unnecessarily difficult for the reader to recognize at a glance what is really important.

The samples of code are generally interesting and they usually exemplify sound programming techniques but they are
commented in such a cryptic manner, that a gentleman called Steve Summit who teaches the C language professionally
using K&R's the C Language as a framework has published his personal notes online in order to complement the book
and clarify its numerous obscurities.

One of the problems with C is the confusing syntax of its declarations. I expected the book to provide a clear and
thorough discussion of one of the major hurdles on your way to acquiring C- read/write fluency. With the exception
of a few lines on using typedef's the book altogether avoids the subject.

Perhaps another reason why this book can be confusing at times is that it cannot quite decide whether it is about
the C language or about C programming, continually mixing the two approaches and thus making it difficult to use -
both as a tutorial and as a reference.

Some fifty pages near the end of the book are taken up by a "Reference Manual" presenting what amounts to a formal
grammar of the language. This standalone document is mostly unrelated to the rest of the book. My guess is that
not one programmer in a million would ever refer to this text. So what's it for? Add a little bulk to this very
slim volume, maybe?

Arguably the fact that K&R "invented" C guarantees the quality of the book.. Maybe, although a gift for language
design does not automatically make you a great writer or teacher.. And, since no one is ever likely to incriminate
themselves the book has a marked tendency to gloss over the weaknesses and traps of the language rather than
clearly warn the student about them.

A bit strange that solutions to the exercises are not provided. Obviously K&R had more important things to do
than waste more time on this project.

If I had to start over & learn C programming I would probably look for a good online tutorial to quickly learn
basic C syntax and spend my money on W. Richard Stevens's "Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment". I'm
pretty sure this would get me up to speed a lot faster than working with this book.

Once you realize that working with a programming language is also about integrating a culture you will come to
think that you need this book after all.. Generations of C programmers have learned from it and as a result it
has pretty much shaped the face of C programming.. This may be one reason why you will eventually want to buy
"The C Programming Language".

Rating:
Summary: Beginners Should Use K&R With Steve Summit's Notes
Review: Many reviewers have noted that K&R2 isn't well-suited to the needs of a real beginner. I was in the same position and found Steve Summit's online "class notes" a useful introduction, along with his supplemental notes to K&R2.