[comp.lang.c] getting started

catfood@NCoast.ORG (Mark W. Schumann) (01/23/91)

Lloyd Williams writes:
>I'm going to have to teach my self C for my research work, so
>I`d like to know what is a good book to learn from, and what is 
>a good compiler to buy. I'll be learning on an I.B.M. PS/2, 
>although I'll eventually be using the "MPW" C on Mac.
>Thanks in advance for any help.

It's been said before, and I'll say it again... get the original
"white book."  Better still, buy the update.  _The_C_Programming_Language_
is still a classic.  As long as you already are familiar with some
other third-generation language, you will find this the most
useful beginning.  Authors of the first edition circa 1980 were
Kerninghan & Ritchie.  Authors of second edition are ?????.
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gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn) (01/24/91)

In article <1991Jan23.022639.1677@NCoast.ORG> catfood@NCoast.ORG (Mark W. Schumann) writes:
>It's been said before, and I'll say it again... get the original
>"white book."  Better still, buy the update.  _The_C_Programming_Language_
>is still a classic.  As long as you already are familiar with some
>other third-generation language, you will find this the most
>useful beginning.  Authors of the first edition circa 1980 were
>Kerninghan & Ritchie.  Authors of second edition are ?????.

Still by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie, published by Prentice-Hall,
ISBN 0-13-110362-8.  I agree that this is the best introduction for
programmers with previous experience in Fortran, Pascal, or a similar
language.  It is probably not the best C tutorial for a programming
novice (but that wasn't the situation here).  The Second Edition of
"The C Programming Language" has had numerous changes from the first on
practically every page, and is recommended over the First Edition (which
unfortunately seems to be the one mostly stocked by bookstores) for all
purposes other than access to Appendix A for the specifications for
so-called "K&R C".  The Second Edition explains where ANSI/ISO C and
"K&R C" differ, so it can be used to learn C no matter which flavor of C
one has access to; however, the code examples do assume ANSI/ISO C.

Dennis posted an errata sheet for the Second Edition some time ago; I
don't know whether or not current printings include these corrections.
They were relatively minor, though.

lwj@cs.kun.nl (Luc Rooijakkers) (01/24/91)

In <14943@smoke.brl.mil> gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn) writes:

>Dennis posted an errata sheet for the Second Edition some time ago; I
>don't know whether or not current printings include these corrections.
>They were relatively minor, though.

The revised Second Edition (the one with the "ANSI C" stamp on the
cover) does indeed include the corrections. Some of them are not so
minor, however (e.g., initialisation of automatic structs...)

--
Luc Rooijakkers                                 Internet: lwj@cs.kun.nl
Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science     UUCP: uunet!cs.kun.nl!lwj
University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands         tel. +3180652271

woof@Pacesetter.COM (Harold C. ( Hal ) Schloss) (01/25/91)

In article <14943@smoke.brl.mil> gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn) writes:
>In article <1991Jan23.022639.1677@NCoast.ORG> catfood@NCoast.ORG (Mark W. Schumann) writes:
>>Authors of the first edition circa 1980 were
>>Kerninghan & Ritchie.  Authors of second edition are ?????.
>
>Still by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie, published by Prentice-Hall,
>ISBN 0-13-110362-8.
>
>Dennis posted an errata sheet for the Second Edition some time ago; I
>don't know whether or not current printings include these corrections.
>They were relatively minor, though.

Well through a comedy of errors, my original copy of the Second Edition got
destroyed. A new copy was purchased to replace it, and this copy was from
the fifth printing of the Second Edition. My new copy had all the minor
corrections included in it that had been posted earlier by Dennis Ritchie.

I have had my new copy of the Second Edition for several months now, I
imagine that most all of the copies being sold today have the corrections
in them.

-- 
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