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Summary: Well done and concise
Review: This is a concise explanation and exploration of the C language. It's examples are pulled from the standard C libraries or from UNIX itself. I am an experienced Java programmer that needed to quickly learn enough C to use the Palm API to develop a handheld application. I just finished this book, downloaded the GNU-PRC Tools IDE, and hope to get a test Palm app running in a few hours. I recommend this book, but please keep in mind it's purpose - this book is designed for individuals with an understanding of programming basics.
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Summary: A model !
Review: The only language I really learnt from a single book was C, and the main reason is the Kernighan-Ritchie great classic. It is written in a most intelligent way: it grabs your attention not by silly jokes, but by genuinely interesting (if short and simple) programs. You learn C and, most important, you learn good programming habits and style. The exercises are extremely relevant and, if not exactly easy, are feasible and make you fix the ideas you were exposed to. The book has an elegance I found in no other, except for the one by Kernighan on Unix. This must be very hard to attain, otherwise other authors would have profited from the lesson.
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Summary: Timeless
Review: If human nature subscribes mistakenly to the Whig theory of history, holding what is newest to be best, then the reality that there exists no comparable book on C++, or on Objective C, or Perl, Java, or Python, may be seen as a corrective clue. The C language strikes precisely near center of the perfect balance between low and high level. To think of other languages as being more "modern" is misleading, when what they are, really, is simply different for having been specialized, targeted, or made "safer," meaning less capable, or in some other manner moved away from that center. Unlike nearly anything else one may think of in the world of computers, the C language has withstood the test of time, and so too has this book. When we say "the C language" nowadays we mean of course the ANSI C language covered in this book. If you are really a beginner it would be helpful to locate a copy of the first edition that covers the original C language, now called "traditional" or sometimes "K&R" C; the differences are minor, but you should know what they are.
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Summary: A template for computer language books
Review: I have spent way more money than I should on computer books; every cent spent on this book was worth it. I wish that more language books followed this model. The writing is clear, concise, and to the point. There is a fine line sometimes between being too terse and saying just enough; for the most part the authors stay on the right side of that line. The code samples are simple without being simplistic. This is not a read once and throw away kind of book; I come back to it every 2-3 months and learn something new each time.
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Summary: The Best C Reference book, but...
Review: ... But if you want to learn the language, unless you somehow know every other previous language, or know everything there is about UNIX. You will not learn C from this book. At least I did not.
It took me 2 days to realize what a filter is (the 3rd&4th code samples in the book, entitled 'File copying'+'Line Counting' are "filters"). A filter is when you utilize the DOS input redirection command (">") to redirect a program's input to a file, rather than using the keyboard for input.
Once I learned some of the langauge (By reading C for Dummies vol. 1 and 2--Excellent learning books) I came back and actually understood a lot of the terse text in this book. When you have questions about the language, rather than bringing a learner's book around with you everywhere, which are usually in excess of 600 pages. You can bring this very compact book to look up topics you are rusty on, or if you forgot the syntax. Or any sort of etiquette. Also, great for discovering new ANSI standard library functions.
This book is a must own for a C programmer. Not while you're learning, but for every day after you've learned. I can throw my Dummies books in the trash now, or loan them out to friends, but this one stays close by.
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Summary: C as seen by its creator
Review: This is not the most comprehensive book about C for beginners, but it is a book both beginners and advanced programmers should have in their library. Why? It is concise, it gives useful examples of functions every C programmer (beginner or not) will certainly use and it is definetely the best book to start programming in C right away. It does not waste much of the reader's time showing C syntax or definitions, only the necessary. Moreover, although it is not a data structure book its fuctions correctly use data structures in a way that you will not only learn how to program in C but also will learn how to program correctly.
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Summary: Few books are exactly as long as they need to be.
Review: This book is one of them. Compact and elegant throughout, this book will take a reader who has some notion of how computer coding is done and lead him through examples and exercises designed to allow the devoted student to achieve buddahhood. For any except the student with no prior experience whatsoever, there can be no finer guide.
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Summary: K&R rule
Review: This <i>*is*</i> the C Programming book. If you are ever expected to know C then you should know this book one way or another.
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Summary: How does one improve upon perfection?
Review: There is no reason to look elsewhere. This is *the* book. Would that all computer science books were written as concisely as this one. Other authors could learn a lot from these guys. Kind of pricey but worth it. One of my absolute favorites. A paradigm of precision and clarity.
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Summary: THE UTLIMATE C Book
Review: No C book can compete with this book. I have been coding C for nearly 4 years and I use this book several times a week. The book is written like clean C code: short and to the point. No flowery language like other books. Now only if I can find a C++ book like this one.
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