Rating: 
Summary: EXCELLENT TUTORIAL
Review: Aside from teaching myself BASIC on my Commodore 64 way-back-when...this is the first programming language I have learned and I owe it all to this book. It is fantastic. Step-by-step, they take you from defining/describing what C is, to writing real-world programs.You would do well to ignore the ignorant reviewers who complain about the title "21 days" (or 24 hours). These people are only looking for excuses. All the 'Teach yourself in 21 Days' books should be seen as 21 LESSONS (and the 24 hours as 24 LESSONS). Could I do it in 21 days? Yes, following the book's plan I could. Easily. But, I have a full time job, family, etc. and these factors can NOT be held accountable by the authors. 21 Excellent Lessons. Days, Hours, months...whatever YOUR pace is, this book does an EXCELLENT job of teaching you what you need to know to write real-world, practical C Programs. I first learned Unix with using of the 'Teach yourself' books and have been a devoted reader ever since. Some days I have time to go through 2 lessons while other times a single lesson may take me a day or 2 due to time constraints. Bottom line: I LEARNED C FROM THIS BOOK AND YOU CAN TOO. I am NOT a computer science major. I am a self-taught Linux hacker who never wrote a line of code (except for a little BASIC 15 years ago) and I am now writing C code and tinkering with Open Source programs. (I'm running Slackware and Debian, if you were wondering). Other tutorials are fine but many assume you are using Windows 95/98. "C is C is C", but this book is written in 'Linuxland' for Linux users; GCC is carefully explained and used here. I use and love the Nedit editor which was one of several recommended in the book. New to C? Or want a fresh start from the beginning while in a Linux environment? GET THIS BOOK and digest all 21 LESSONS at your own pace!
Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent Choice For The Beginning C Programmer
Review: Before I read this book I had already some experiences in Turbo Pascal, Delphi and little Visual C++. But since I recently switched to Linux as my primary operating system I decided to learn C. This book does an excellent job explaining C from the very basics. It does not assume any previous programming experiences! Although this was helpful to me, I am sure I could have understood the presented concepts without knowing other programming languages. You also do not have to know much about Linux itself, mostly is explained in the book in a very direct and clearly understandable way. It teaches you almost everything compiling your code with gcc, how to use pointers (one of the most difficult aspects in C, I think) to programming for the GUI (Graphical User Interface) with gtk+. Although the chapter about GUI and gtk+ is existent it shows only the very basics. If you consider programmming with gtk an additional book will certainly be required. The book is devided in 21 easy to read chapter that each cover one aspect of C. But it seems like some chapters, which are suggested to read one at a time,( especially 13, 14, 18), cover a little bit too much for just one day, while others like chapter 1,2 and 19 could be joined with others. The book also claim to teach you how to acces the printer with C, but it simply does NOT. It mentions the possibility to redirect a "stream" to the printer, but does not actually tell how to achieve that. To learn C the way the book teaches it you seriously need to invest some time and stay focused. Since the chapters build up on each other you sometimes wil have to go back and reread some sections. After you learned C with this book you may want to buy a "refernce" that explaines more functions and commands in order to look the syntax of some commands up for which this book is unsuited. O verall the book does a good job teaching the C language with specifications for the Linux environment (it also tells you what to do in order to make your code portable!). If you are new to Linux and want to learn a powerful programming language this is definetelly the book for you! I gave the book only four stars because of some editing errors and the nonexistent printer-acces feauture. If this is revised in the second edition it absolutely earns FIVE stars!
Rating:
Summary: With out a doubt, the BEST intro to C book on the market!
Review: Going into my first year as a computer science student, I had never programmed before in any language. After realizing how tough it was, I picked up this book that was luckily in a local book store and read the entire book cover to cover. I'm now in my final year preparing to do a Masters in computer science thanks largely in part to this book. Even though it's not a complete C reference, it definatly gets you going in the write direction. From making simple to advanced makefiles in a clear and understandable manner, to structured software development with debugging information and proper coding techniques. It is missing important information like database programming and socket programming, but the things that are missing could be picked up in a more indepth and advanced book on C programming like "Beginning Linux Programming" (big red book with the 2 guys on the cover laughing at eachother). I'd never part with my copy of Teach Yourself C in 21 Days because its a good reference for little things you may forget along the way.
Rating: 
Summary: Not in agreement...
Review: I bought this book because of the good reviews. There are a lot of books on C out there but I thought this one looked good. It isn't terrible but it certainly isn't as good as these reviews.
Basically the explanations are all over the place. Nothing seems to have any order to it. The code from the very beginning has elements that aren't explained til much later in the book which gets confusing fast. This is barely a book for the beginner. Loops are explained well and in depth but other areas are very quickly passed over. There are some good points, like the fact that it explains C on Linux not just a general ANSI guide. This way you know how to compile your programs and what to use on Linux. I have learned some things from this book but it could have been organized much better.
Rating:
Summary: Great, but lacking on some essential functions
Review: I found that this book was great for the beginning programmer, however, it lacked explanation on many essential functions and macros. Hopefully in the second edition, they will improve on this.
Rating:
Summary: Right on Target
Review: I have been learning C++ for a while on a linux platform, and started to look at some C stuff in the kernel and other programs to broaden my knowledge. I saw that that although C++ is derived from C it doesn't necessarily do stuff the same way, so I picked up this book. It was right on the mark! and explained some peculiar C stuff right away and in a good easy to read style. It consolidated my knowledge well an added to my understanding, particularly with pointers to pointers by including well thought out text and pictures well done. It also provides a good tutorial into basic GCC usage and the peculirities of programming for Linux, I recomend it.
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Summary: The must-read book for C programming
Review: I read this book about 8 months ago and I must say that it's the best introduction to C you can ever have. Yet it has a lack in some aspects, like not explaining the enum keyword, C is too big to cover it in just one book. I think this book makes the best in keeping things clear, explaining some theories (like linked list), keeping things kinda short and giving a general introduction to most aspects. I see two things very important missing, socket programming and enum keyword, the rest is very well written. It also gives you a little introduction to X (graphics) programming with GTK+. While reading this book I started coding a mail client for GNOME called Cronos II which is getting bigger and popular, and I must thank the knowleadge to this book.
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Summary: If you want to learn to program on Linux, this is the book
Review: Sam's TEACH YOURSELF C FOR LINUX IN 21 DAYS is the ideal book for the total beginner wanting to program in Linux. C is the dominant language on Linux, as the kernel and most GNU and GNOME apps are written in it, and this book teaches C in a clear manner without expecting the reader to already know programming concepts. The book opens with a few chapters of basic C program structure and the mathematical functions needed to perform tasks. After that, it immediately introduces three key programming concepts: strings and streams (inputing from and outputing to an external source). While most programming books don't discuss these concepts until late in the book, keeping the reader caged in mere theory without being able to make a useful program, TEACH YOURSELF C FOR LINUX introduces them early so that the learner can immediately start producing useful programs to solve common tasks. While Sam's guide to C++ programming on Linux is actually just its generic C++ guide with a few token Linux references, happily Sam's TEACH YOURSELF C FOR LINUX is really solid on Linux and its authors are have actual experience in open-source design. My only complaints are the limited coverage of structs, which can really make C programming easier and more powerful if used correctly, and of the GNU C Library. The glibc info documentation is so concise and difficult to follow that beginners need a better guide, and it's a shame that this book didn't provide it. The book is also three years old, so its chapter on GUI programing with GTK is somewhat out of date now that GTK2 has been released, although porting a GTK+ app to GTK2 is not a lot of work. Linux is a platform where luckily all the tools one needs to get started programming are shipped free, and contribution to free (or "open-source") is encouraged. If you want to capitalize on the advantages of the platform, Sam's TEACH YOURSELF C PROGRAMMING FOR LINUX is the way to go.
Rating:
Summary: Great book! Nice introduction to C in the Linux environment.
Review: This book helped me get back with programming in C (one of the most powerful languages out there), and they did a nice job of explaining the Linux environment and how the GNU C compiler (GCC) works. I am pretty new to Linux but had no trouble getting up and running with the book.
Rating:
Summary: Full of goodies, plenty of reference-
Review: This book is beyond as good as i said in my last review, well this is an update. After finishing this book, i have an entirely new outlook on why this book is so good! I always find myself looking back for a reminder; if there's something i need a refresh or rescale on, it's got it. it teaches compiling all the way to deployment. This book is desirably the best in my GNU/Linux stash. There are so many extras in this book, you would b surprised why they priced it so low! COVERED- Pointers (in depth), functions, all forms of data structures, GTK/GTK+, and more- If you the reader are taking any introductory courses in programming, for goodness and gpa get this book! Especially if you have a[bad]teacher as i once did ;) Hope this was helpful
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