4 ms·

Seriously? No one has mentioned K&R. It's arguably the best programming book ever written.

by filterfish 10y ago

wearpy 10y ago
Yes, see the pixpop post.
colanderman 10y ago
It's also seriously out-of-date. C has changed a lot since 1988, mostly for the better.
vram22 10y ago
>It's arguably the best programming book ever written Well that is debatable and many people might not agree with you (though I tend agree and put it near, if not at the top of my own list). As they say, De gustibus non est disputandum: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_gustibus_non_est_disputandum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_gustibus_non_est_disputandu... Along with K&P, makes for two of the best, and where Kernighan was a co-author, IMHO. Of course, caveats apply and should be mentioned (a few others have said it), such as it not being up to date with latest versions of the C standard. But that does not diminish the achievements or quality of K&R. Edits for grammar / wording.
- vram22 10y ago
  However I don't think it is necessarily the best first book on C for everyone, but it can be for some. Depends on the amount of systems-level and close-to-the metal knowledge they have; at least a minimal understanding of how computers work under the hood (RAM, hard disk, CPU, files, etc. [1]), or at least a mental model of that, helps and those who have that will do better with K&R as first book. Others may be better served by an easier book and then should move on to K&R. [1] And some people, even on here, may be surprised at how much some people are lacking in that sort of knowledge, more so in these days of Android and Apple tablets and smartphones, where a lot of the underlying details of computers (both on hardware and software) are abstracted away. Very different from the age of hobbyist home computers, where you had to know a good amount about the internals to use the things, as some many comments in recent threads here about them have mentioned.

Seriously? No one has mentioned K&R. It's arguably the best programming book ever written.

wearpy 10y ago

Yes, see the pixpop post.

colanderman 10y ago

It's also seriously out-of-date. C has changed a lot since 1988, mostly for the better.

vram22 10y ago

>It's arguably the best programming book ever written Well that is debatable and many people might not agree with you (though I tend agree and put it near, if not at the top of my own list). As they say, De gustibus non est disputandum: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_gustibus_non_est_disputandum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_gustibus_non_est_disputandu... Along with K&P, makes for two of the best, and where Kernighan was a co-author, IMHO. Of course, caveats apply and should be mentioned (a few others have said it), such as it not being up to date with latest versions of the C standard. But that does not diminish the achievements or quality of K&R. Edits for grammar / wording.

vram22 10y ago
However I don't think it is necessarily the best first book on C for everyone, but it can be for some. Depends on the amount of systems-level and close-to-the metal knowledge they have; at least a minimal understanding of how computers work under the hood (RAM, hard disk, CPU, files, etc. [1]), or at least a mental model of that, helps and those who have that will do better with K&R as first book. Others may be better served by an easier book and then should move on to K&R. [1] And some people, even on here, may be surprised at how much some people are lacking in that sort of knowledge, more so in these days of Android and Apple tablets and smartphones, where a lot of the underlying details of computers (both on hardware and software) are abstracted away. Very different from the age of hobbyist home computers, where you had to know a good amount about the internals to use the things, as some many comments in recent threads here about them have mentioned.