[aclug-L] Re: c primer

[jg <jamesga@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi...
Well, I personally wouldn't know how many people in the group have
"any" interest in this. I do know that learning C "first" would be a smart
move for anyone wanting to learn any other modern computer language. If
the topic of C programming were limited to a one night presentation and
there is interest in C concepts, your plan sounds good. If there is no
interest, than maybe a more beginner introduction would be better in order
to introduce non-programmers. By "beginner, I mean talk about suggested
books to buy/read. Discuss why the C language is important. How it
differs from other languages. Why it is used more for UNIX than for
Windows. Also discuss the relationship between C, C++ & Java. Also, how
much does C have in common with Perl, Python & TCL. Perhaps a presentation
on "Introduction to Programming" would be better (with the discution
revolving around C). On a different (2nd) night, a presentation on "The
Concepts of C" (like proposed in your e-mail, below).

This weekend, I researched the books that are available for C.
I came up with a list of three of the best tutorials:
1. "C Programming: A Modern Approach"
2. "Pointers on C"
3. "The C Programming Language, 2nd Edition"
Best Reference:
1. "C: A Reference Manual"
Best Style Book:
1. "The Practice of Programming"

One night cannot teach C, just like C in 21 hours can't be done. But, we
are a group of volunteers trying to help each other. The most we can do is
help point ourselves in the right direction (even though the concept
of the word "right" has become politically incorrect).

James G.

On Wed, 25 Oct 2000, Tom Hull wrote:

> At the last ACLUG meeting, James G. asked for someone to do a presentation
> on the C programming language. The general reaction seemed to be: not in one
> night. I've been thinking about this, and I think I could throw together
> something on a limited subset of C, specifically:
> 
>   -- object types and their memory representation
>   -- type descriptors
>   -- casts
>   -- rvalues and lvalues
>   -- array and pointer operations
>   -- simple (non-bitfield) structures and unions
> 


> My question is, would this be of sufficient general interest?
> 


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