5 ms·

Not sure what the point is in bashing a book thats known to be crap.

by vmmenon 16y ago

devinj 16y ago
It's not known to everybody, apparently. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writings_of_Herbert_Schildt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writings_of_Herbert_Schildt
- nfnaaron 16y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writings_of_Herbert_Schildt#Reception http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writings_of_Herbert_Schildt#Rec... "Schildt's books have a reputation for being written in a clear style that is very easy to understand.[10] Their technical accuracy, especially of the earlier works, has been challenged by reviewers, including ISO C committee members Peter Seebach,[11] and Clive Feather,[12] Steve Summit, author of the C FAQ[13], and numerous reviews in C Vu from the ACCU.[14]" I'm not an expert on C, writing, publishing or proof reading. Over the last twenty years, whenever Schildt's name or books have come up in conversation online or off, there has always been an associated foul odor. There are so many good books on C, it's just not worth it to waste your time and space on his books.
Naga 16y ago
I didn't know. I actually have it on my shelf. My dad gave it to me when I was just starting C about a year ago. I guess this explains why some of the code didn't run.
- attiatte 16y ago
  I also have a copy, and was only shunned on IRC a few months ago for using it.
unwind 16y ago
This guy's bashing (which I remember reading from years back) is part of what makes the book famously bad. At least to me. I find the tone of the intro of the updated article very amusing, I guess it's the typical underdog story. He used to be some random guy on the Internet who liked C; now he's an experienced professional who spent almost a decade on the C committee. Awesome.
megablast 16y ago
There is nothing more annoying that when you are learning to program, and you get some error due to the examples. You check everything, recheck names, and it still crashes. You try to find out if you are using the compiler right, if you have the correct version, still crashes. So you try to type it in another editor, maybe the editor is adding CRLF from dos, and the compiler is expecting Unix EOL, nope, still crashing. Maybe there is a problem with the machine, so try a different machine, nope, still crashing. It is enough to turn anyone off of computer science. When you are first starting out, there are so many things that already can go wrong, and so much to learn. This is just bad!
- heresy 16y ago
  I get the sense Herb hasn't moved with the times, and is pretty much stuck in the ways that served him before the internet, hence the lack of improvement. How bad do you have to be to not continuously improve what you did before? Also, his examples to me scream that he hasn't or doesn't really write code for a living, or if he does, it's with a community of other fossils like him. I can't respect any programming book writer who doesn't have some kind of automation in place to ensure all his code samples (1) compile, and (2) work as expected. Basic stuff nowadays. And even me, with not very much C cred, can see his C code is clearly not idiomatic for C these days, if you compare it to some well-written OSS C.
bartl 16y ago
To demonstrate that the new edition is still crap. It does not only warn (new) people to stay away from it, it also reflects badly on the publisher, who only seems able to bring out shoddy work.
- MaysonL 16y ago
  Not to speak of what it says about a professor who uses it as the text for an introductory course...
breadbox 16y ago
It's "known to be crap" among the people who already know the language, because of folks like Seebs. That's the point. It's a little dated now, I suppose, but it may be worth remembering that Schildt's books were very popular at one point. Quite a number of people learned C from that awful book, with no idea how many bad habits they were ingesting.

Not sure what the point is in bashing a book thats known to be crap.

by vmmenon 16y ago

Not sure what the point is in bashing a book thats known to be crap.

It's not known to everybody, apparently. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writings_of_Herbert_Schildt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writings_of_Herbert_Schildt

nfnaaron 16y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writings_of_Herbert_Schildt#Reception http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writings_of_Herbert_Schildt#Rec... "Schildt's books have a reputation for being written in a clear style that is very easy to understand.[10] Their technical accuracy, especially of the earlier works, has been challenged by reviewers, including ISO C committee members Peter Seebach,[11] and Clive Feather,[12] Steve Summit, author of the C FAQ[13], and numerous reviews in C Vu from the ACCU.[14]" I'm not an expert on C, writing, publishing or proof reading. Over the last twenty years, whenever Schildt's name or books have come up in conversation online or off, there has always been an associated foul odor. There are so many good books on C, it's just not worth it to waste your time and space on his books.

Naga 16y ago

I didn't know. I actually have it on my shelf. My dad gave it to me when I was just starting C about a year ago. I guess this explains why some of the code didn't run.

attiatte 16y ago
I also have a copy, and was only shunned on IRC a few months ago for using it.

unwind 16y ago

This guy's bashing (which I remember reading from years back) is part of what makes the book famously bad. At least to me. I find the tone of the intro of the updated article very amusing, I guess it's the typical underdog story. He used to be some random guy on the Internet who liked C; now he's an experienced professional who spent almost a decade on the C committee. Awesome.

megablast 16y ago

There is nothing more annoying that when you are learning to program, and you get some error due to the examples. You check everything, recheck names, and it still crashes. You try to find out if you are using the compiler right, if you have the correct version, still crashes. So you try to type it in another editor, maybe the editor is adding CRLF from dos, and the compiler is expecting Unix EOL, nope, still crashing. Maybe there is a problem with the machine, so try a different machine, nope, still crashing. It is enough to turn anyone off of computer science. When you are first starting out, there are so many things that already can go wrong, and so much to learn. This is just bad!

heresy 16y ago
I get the sense Herb hasn't moved with the times, and is pretty much stuck in the ways that served him before the internet, hence the lack of improvement. How bad do you have to be to not continuously improve what you did before? Also, his examples to me scream that he hasn't or doesn't really write code for a living, or if he does, it's with a community of other fossils like him. I can't respect any programming book writer who doesn't have some kind of automation in place to ensure all his code samples (1) compile, and (2) work as expected. Basic stuff nowadays. And even me, with not very much C cred, can see his C code is clearly not idiomatic for C these days, if you compare it to some well-written OSS C.

bartl 16y ago

To demonstrate that the new edition is still crap. It does not only warn (new) people to stay away from it, it also reflects badly on the publisher, who only seems able to bring out shoddy work.

MaysonL 16y ago
Not to speak of what it says about a professor who uses it as the text for an introductory course...

breadbox 16y ago

It's "known to be crap" among the people who already know the language, because of folks like Seebs. That's the point. It's a little dated now, I suppose, but it may be worth remembering that Schildt's books were very popular at one point. Quite a number of people learned C from that awful book, with no idea how many bad habits they were ingesting.