Product Description

This book is meant to help the reader learn how to program in C. It is the definitive reference guide, now in a second edition. Although the first edition was written in 1978, it continues to be a worldwide best-seller. This second edition brings the classic original up to date to include the ANSI standard. From the Preface: We have tried to retain the brevity of the first edition. C is not a big language, and it is not well served by a big book. We have improved the exposition of critical features, such as pointers, that are central to C programming. We have refined the original examples, and have added new examples in several chapters. For instance, the treatment of complicated declarations is augmented by programs that convert declarations into words and vice versa. As before, all examples have been tested directly from the text, which is in machine-readable form. As we said in the first preface to the first edition, C "wears well as one's experience with it grows." With a decade more experience, we still feel that way. We hope that this book will help you to learn C and use it well.

Amazon.com Review

Just about every C programmer I respect learned C from this book. Unlike many of the 1,000 page doorstops stuffed with CD-ROMs that have become popular, this volume is concise and powerful (if somewhat dangerous) -- like C itself. And it was written by Kernighan himself. Need we say more?

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A book to keep ..        Rating:

This book is the very first book any person that is into C programming should read. Cherish it and keep it in a preferential place.

C Programming Book        Rating:

"The C Programming Language" is a good book overall. I expected it to come in a little better shape, but I can't complain. I trust the source I got it from and would recommend buying one of these if you want the "White Book" for old-time programmers.

Magic book        Rating:

This book is accurate, beautifully written, short, and yet comprehensive. It's the only book on the C language that you'll ever need.

The Must-have        Rating:

I've read the first edition, and this is a must. It doesn't cover some of the details of ISO/ansi 99, but those can be found elsewhere. What can't be found is the way the authors drag even the beginning student right into the depths of memory allocation so soon. This book isn't too easy, but it's one no student of c can be without, and it's well-written, into the bargain.

Great Book        Rating:

Most people that are serious about C know about this book, often calling it "K & R" or "The Old Testament." As the authors of this book are also the authors of the C language itself, it's kinda hard to find a "better" book on the subject. The first edition has some errors that were (hopefully) fixed in the 2nd edition.
If you are new to programming, or have only used Windows, you may be a little lost as this holds true to the UNIX methodology of doing one thing well, and that is to teach C. It doesn't bother with helping to teach editor tools and compilers, or even basic programming concepts, as those are out of scope and the intended audience already knows about those.

This is a great book, and I wish more books on programming languages had the same approach to teaching syntax and its use.

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