[jimblumberg]

C Book recommendations.

What books would you recommend for the various levels of C:

Learning:


Intermediate:
C Unleashed.

Advanced:


Reference:

The C Programming Language, Kernighan and Ritchie.

While I wouldn't recommend this book for learning the language it is a very good reference for the language.

This post has been edited by jimblumberg: 27 July 2013 - 11:57 PM

[Jeet.in]

Learning: Programming In Ansi C by Balagurusamy
Let Us C by Yashvant Kanetkar

Intermediate: Pointers in C by Yashvant Kanetkar
Expert C Programming : Deep C Secrets by Peter Van Der Linden


Advanced: C: The Complete Reference by Herbert Schildt
Data Structures Using C by Aaron M. Tenenbaum, Yedidyah Langsam, Moshe J.Augenstein (For more DS concepts)

I will add another category:

Practice : Test Your C Skills by Yashvant Kanetkar

[jimblumberg]

I wouldn't recommend "The Complete Reference by Herbert Schildt". This book has too many negative reviews, here is one such review.

I have doubts about several of the other books listed, for example:

Quote

Let Us C by Yashvant Kanetkar

The problem with this book is the "recommended compiler". Recommending Turbo-C as the compiler of choice is very bad in my opinion. See this WIKI about the author. And from that link:

Quote

Yashavant Kanetkar's C and C++ books are mostly used by Indian students and teachers to learn the depth of the DOS based ancient Turbo C/C++ programming environment which is ingrained in India's teaching curriculum and current generation of teachers. Code in his C/C++ books is not ANSI compliant. This criticism has not been addressed even in the latest editions of his most popular books like Let Us C, Understanding Pointers In C and Let Us C++.

Jim

[Jeet.in]

I fully accept this fact about Kanetkar's book! Although some colleges in India do propose the use of Turbo C++ etc. (for reasons best known to them), several states in India completely run Linux based development environment. Leaving that glitch aside, the book is not at all a bad book for beginners, and many fellow developers who are working in Fortune 500 companies, started their programming career with Let Us C (C is the universal first year first/second semester language taught in India, although the focus is on programming, C happens to be the tool). So I think we should give this book a chance !

As of Schildt's book, it can be very well replaced by Deep C Secrets book, but still the coverage Schildt does is good. I wish he updated his book more frequently, which is again one good thing about commercial languages like C#, that get updated annually at least, forcing authors to update/correct the text to match the scenario.

Edit: I am no way affiliated to either of the authors !

This post has been edited by Jeet.in: 16 July 2013 - 04:09 AM

[jimblumberg]

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So I think we should give this book a chance !

Well there's not a chance that I'll waste my money on any of the books by those two authors. The problem with the second author, IMO, is that Turbo-C being mentioned in a "current" text book hints at it's acceptance. And the continued teaching of DOS techniques is horrifying. These books seem to be stuck in the distant past and should be abandoned.

Quote

Although some colleges in India do propose the use of Turbo C etc.

This is part of the problem, and books by this author seem to be part of the reason for these problems. Using these books as text books encouraging the use of outdated tools and operating systems is doing too many of these students a disservice.

Jim

This post has been edited by jimblumberg: 16 July 2013 - 04:16 AM

[Jeet.in]

Quote

This is part of the problem, and books by this author seem to be part of the reason for these problems. Using these books as text books encouraging the use of outdated tools and operating systems is doing too many of these students a disservice.

WOW ! A very valid point ! I never thought of this ! Good point made Jim !

Quote

there's not a chance that I'll waste my money

You will be astonished to know that every CS college in India has at least a 100 copies of Kanetkar's books in their libraries (another reason perhaps for the fame of DOS based tools). Nobody really buys it (the price is very less $2.7 only) and I seriously doubt the royalty he gets out of his books

This post has been edited by Jeet.in: 16 July 2013 - 04:47 AM

[jimblumberg]

Quote

You will be astonished to know that every CS college in India has at least a 100 copies of Kanetkar's books in their libraries (another reason perhaps for the fame of DOS based tools).

Not astonished, saddened maybe. Probably one of the reasons for this is because this author is probably part of the Indian education system. Either as an instructor or an administrator. But I suspect if nothing else they use these books because the author is Indian.

Jim

[Jeet.in]

Quote

this author is probably part of the Indian education system.

Nope this author isn't but I know one author who is (and I won't name him for obvious reasons) and whose book has fatal mistakes (I don't think you remember Jim, but you were the one who pointed the mistake in my code when I first joined DIC). After that I even mailed the author that a book that technically millions of Indian students read has an error that should be corrected in it's next edition which came out after some 7 months or so! Alas, the reply was as expected, no reply! It was disappointing as well.

I think the reason Kanetkar's book is famous because every senior student says "I read his book" ! Believe me, only a few colleges in India has K&R C book for students to issue in the library and most of the fellows read this book and assume it to be a Bible of some kind. Also the book's catchy name and easy (or rather universal) availability (both first and n'th hand!) at damn cheap prices adds to fame.

Again who am I to speak ! I can never say my instructor that what he told is absolutely illogical because doing that I will risk low grades ! Take a look here :

How are students in Indian colleges taught programming?

You will know what I mean. India has produced several great programmers and computer scientists and not all instructors are bad. Some faculties are like Godfathers. Awesomely knowledgeable, affectionate (one of our senior's ex-instructors is now a CS faculty at MIT, I had a chance to talk with him for 10 minutes and I wish he had not left the college! but the field of research he was in made more sense in U.S. so his decision was well placed) and we love to work and learn from them.
But for every 1 good instructor perhaps there's 3 bad (is 'bad' the correct word as they have lots of degrees? No perhaps, but keeping aside my instructor's degrees for a while, I pay for my education, shouldn't I be reaping the best out of it?) That time, it's sites like DreamInCode and StackOverflow and good, knowledgeable people like you who become our mentors and solace as well.

Edit: I am sorry if I am going off topic. Just my two pence.

This post has been edited by Jeet.in: 16 July 2013 - 10:32 AM

[raspinudo]

For beginner I would recommend Practical C Programming, I really enjoyed using this book during
my first C course. For reference I would recommend K&R. I think a good path for beginners would
be to read through PCP, complete all the problems, then read through K&R for a deeper understanding,
then just keep K&R around as a great reference.

[great_white_shark]

I would recommend ''Programming in C'' by Stephen Kochan.

[menance]

I started this week with my studybook for beginners: "De Programmertaal C" from Al Kelley and Ira Pohl. This is the Dutch version of the English book. It was important for me to start to learn C in my own language and this was the only book i could find. So for the Dutch readers, it is a option.

[Ram&Saw]

For advanced programmers of course Stroustrup is the best. He founded it that's why he knows all about cpp. http://en.m.wikipedi...arne_Stroustrup
The hand book of the real programmer should be of course Knuth.

[jimblumberg]

It might be the best book only if this topic was dealing with C++. But since this C book topic the C++ link is really not relevant. Most of the books by Dr. Knuth would probably be great for advance reading in any language.

Jim

This post has been edited by jimblumberg: 23 November 2014 - 02:52 PM

[Ram&Saw]

jimblumberg, on 23 November 2014 - 02:52 PM, said:

It might be the best book only if this topic was dealing with C++. But since this C book topic the C++ link is really not relevant. Most of the books by Dr. Knuth would probably be great for advance reading in any language.

Jim

Yeah I agree, but what means "advanced programmer in C"? Does it mean that I can create the trees and lists? Does it mean that I understand the pointers? I think no. I think advanced programmer in C is going to deal with OOP it's his next level. If you need just to learn the syntax every book I've seen was good.

[jimblumberg]

Quote

but what means "advanced programmer in C"? Does it mean that I can create the trees and lists? Does it mean that I understand the pointers?

Yes you should understand most aspects of the C language especially pointers, functions, and an intermediate to advanced understanding of many data structures. But IMO a C programmer of any level doesn't necessarily need to have extensive knowledge of OOP.

Jim