Re: [aclug-L] c tutorials

[Bob Deep <bobd@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

phrostie wrote:
> 
> does any one know of a page that has good tutorials for C in linux.
> the last code i wrote was some fortran fifteen years ago.
> i'd like to start tinkering again.
> 

Don't know of any good web sites, but as a way to start learning C (or
C++) there are a lot of good books that are cheap.

The best "C" book that I know is "The C Programming Language" Second
Edition by Kernighan and Ritchie ISBN: 0-13-110362-8(also known as the
K&R book).  It is quite expensive, but I think it is the best available
book for learning C if you already know another language. It does not
waste a lot of time explaining what a computer is, or how it works.  It
is also known as the "C Bible" as the authors invented the language and
the first Edition of the book was their formal definition of the
language.  It does jump into the language quite quickly, but there are
lots of examples and exercises to help you along.  There are books that
are a lot longer, but more is not always better.  I hear those "Teach
yourself ?? in 21 days" books are O.K. but I've never looked at the C
one.

All the Linux C compilers you can find will all work just about the same
and all the examples in most books should easily run on your linux box.
Just about any C book you can lay your hands on should work just fine if
you stay away from the Micro-Soft and Dos based compiler specifics.

There is a C++ Book that looks like the C book, but due to the paridigm
shift (from functional to object oriented) between the two languages I
don't like the new book myself.  Most established programmers can make
the shift to Object Oriented without too much trouble, but learning how
to approach the solution to a problem using objects can cause troubble
at times.  The new book assumes you already know how to think and design
your program in OO, and because you can easily program straight C code
and compile it with your C++ Compiler you can run into troubble.  There
are really very few extensions to C made by C++, but using a true OO
approach in C++ is more a matter of forcing yourself to code
"objectivly" than learning C++.  There is nothing worse than a half
object half functional program except perhaps a large shell script or
some uncommented Assembly...

Should you need any help with a sticky C/C++ problem let me know.  Most
folks don't have too much troubble until they start trying to use
pointers.  The syntax is a bit nasty, but it really is quite a powerful
part of C... So if you can master the pointer, you are likely a good C
programmer...

Good luck,

-= bob =-
---
This is the Air Capitol Linux Users Group discussion list.  If you
want to unsubscribe, send the word "unsubscribe" to
aclug-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx.  If you want to post to the list, send your
message to aclug-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx.