Product Description

This authoritative reference manual provides a complete description of the C language, the run-time libraries, and a style of C programming that emphasizes correctness, portability, and maintainability. The authors describe the C language more clearly and in more detail than in any other book.

Customer Reviews (49)

Excellent Content.Horrible publishing
I've been using the Harrison/Steele manual (4th ed.) for years.As a reference manual, it is unsurpassed.I decided to update to the 5th edition recently and all I can say is: don't.For some reason, Prentice Hall has decided to print this edition on a low-weight, cheap paper.Whereas the 4th edition had clean, crisp text on bright paper, the 5th edition's text visibly bleeds along the paper fibers.This results in a smudged, blurry look to the text and makes reading more difficult.If you don't need the material on internationalization or complex arithmetic, you should find a copy of the 4th edition.Your eyes will thank you.

the best C book for a professional
If you haven't programmed before, not a book for you (but then, C is not the language for you). If you do have experience, and think mathematically (that is, you value precision and are not afraid to think) you will love it, as I did. Guy Steele was a programming language design God (check out the "lambda, the ultimate..." papers), who has sadly not fulfilled his promise (although Scheme has been enormously influential), and this book is his swan song, and almost succeeds in making C look like Scheme -- in truth, they are quite similar -- both are assembly languages for abstract machines). The real old-times (as opposed to semi-old-timers like me) learned C from C Programming Language (2nd Edition), and you should have K&R on your bookshelf, but it really is not as clearl as Harbison and Steele.

Excellent but needs updating
If you don't already have this reference and are a professional C programmer, you better get it NOW!!!

I've used this since the 2nd edition getting each new edition as soon as released, one copy for the office and one for home. I prefer it over K&R by leaps and bounds. It's much easier to read and find information than K&R. The examples are better and are much more explanatory.

The only problems are that it needs updating, reformatting and modernization (styling to MISRA and/or CERT-C standard would be nice).
It also doesn't cover all the features of the language, as an example "volatile" is missing so you'll still need K&R. If the above were resolved, I'd dump K&R altogether and give it 5 stars.

About those index omissions...
The "most helpful critical review" reviewer claims the index is incomplete.An example refers to the word "const", which the reviewer claims has its own section (4.4.4) yet is not found in the index.That's funny.I own the 4th edition, and I found "const" in the index refering to, you guessed it, section 4.4.4.It's on page 81 in the 4th edition.It was even easy to find.I looked under "C".I strongly suspect it's in the 5th edition also.I'd say this "most helpful critical review" is highly suspect.BTW, I think this is an extremely helpful book, and am considering buying the 5th edition just for those 20+ extra pages.The 4th provided the sound and solid information I needed to succeed as a C programmer, and it may have even saved my career more than once.

An amazing reference manual
To be honest, I haven't done a lot of C programming. But when I need to, this is the place to go. It has reference material for just about anything you can imagine about the C language. And the cross referencing throughout the book is great. For me it replaces K&R without a doubt.

The thing that I value the most about it, is that it is a true reference. It's not meant to be a "teach you C" book, it's a book that assumes you know what you're doing, and you just need to look up information about the language. And I must say, everything is *thoroughly* covered. Then going beyond the C language in terms of syntactical grammar, it includes reference for the standard C library.

So, even if you've been programming C for years, you would probably enjoy this book, and possible learn something you didn't know, just from it's completeness. Or, for new developers to C, I would use this as a supplement to another "teach you C" style book. When going through a "teach you C" style book, look up the concepts that may be confusing, or incomplete in this book, and I'd bet you'll learn twice as much just from having this next to you.

Enjoy! ... Read more

Product Description
The third edition of Computer Science: A Structured Programming Approach Using C continues to present both computer science theory and C-language syntax with a principle-before-implementation approach. Forouzan and Gilberg employ a clear organizational structure, supplemented by easy-to-follow figures, charts, and tables. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

CS book review
This book has a lot of examples and you can get practice before going to an exam or developing your own program.It is easy to understand and easy to read and go along with.

Great Book.
Great product, required for my computer coding class. Very informative. Great book to skim since there's a lot of useful information. If your having trouble on the homework, just whip this book out and you will almost always get an example similar to the problem.

Good Book!!! A+
This is a good book. I used for my freshman year in engineering. I sold it when the semester ended. However, I bought it again because I needed to review some material and I knew it was a good source. Recommended!!!

A bad book for learning C
I bought this book since the University website here in India "Recommends" this book for C and Data structures course. Since I myself have not done a Computer Science course as my major was Electronics, I tried to go through this book as my guide for C.

As it turned out this book is an utter Junk. It has 1000+ pages which will take you some time completing it and once you are done with it you will still not be able to solve a single problem in a more advanced C book -- Such as say K&R C.

The explanations of the concepts about the language is very bad and the Authors look like they have no background in C programming.

In all, there are better books out there for C. Save your money and do not buy this book.

Textbook, not a quick reference
I bought this for a textbook. It is not a quick read. However, it has a lot of examples and the summary pages and tips at the end of the chapters have been useful for class. The index is complete enough you can use it to find stuff. Whether you understand the explanation is another matter. The author can be quite verbose and attempts to cover everything. Good for a text, not so good for a reference. I'm sure there are more concise treatments, but this isn't a bad book and I am getting used to the format. ... Read more

Product Description
The C language has been covered in many books but none as dedicated to the embedded microcontroller beginner as the Beginner's Guide to Embedded C Programming. Through his down to earth style of writing Chuck Hellebuyck delivers a step by step introduction to learning how to program microcontrollers with the C language. In addition he uses a powerful C compiler that the reader can download for free in a series of hands on projects with sample code so you can learn right along with him. For the hardware he found the best low cost but effective development starter kit that includes a PIC16F690 microcontroller and everything else the beginner needs to program and develop embedded designs, even beyond the book's projects. There isn't a better entry level guide to learning embedded C programming than the Beginner's Guide to Embedded C Programming. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

High Price, Low Value, Lightweight Content
I am sorry to say that this book is little more than a lightweight introduction to C, with some PIC programs taking the place of the usual K&R "hello world" examples.If you don't know the fundamentals of C programming, you may find some value here.But if you are looking to get a quick leg up on the specifics of writing C code for the PIC, and the specifics of using the Hitech compiler to do it, I believe you will be disappointed.

One brief aside to the author regarding the foreword, QBASIC was not present at the beginning of personal computers as you suggested. I had been building, programming, and using personal computers for some 5 or 6 years when QBASIC came along, and mostly, we used hand coded machine language, and assembler, although many other things came along well before QBASIC, including Gordon Eubank's EBASIC, Tiny BASIC, Tiny FORTRAN, FOCAL, PILOT, Northstar BASIC, various C compilers, and many, many others I have now forgotten.And of course, the original credit for all BASIC interpreters goes to the folks at Dartmouth, who created BASIC (Beginner's All Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) in the first place.Likewise, Kernigan and Ritchie at AT&T begat the C language.Look up some old archives of Dr. Dobb's Journal and you will see what I mean.

All and all, you would be better served to buy a good book on C programming (if you need it) and slogging through the PIC specific aspects on your own with the help of the Internet.At the very least, you would be no worse off, and you'd have saved yourself from wasting money.

Combined with Vol 2 this is excellent
Chuck Hellebuyck writes the most interesting and readable books on PIC technology. He assumes you know nothing and uses a direct and friendly style, which comes as welcome relief to academic overkill. Is it just me that learns most about PIC technology from thin books?

In this book he covers the basics of C using the Hi-Tech free student version of their C compiler and the PICKIT2 ($50). He gives clear schematics and has photos of the stripboard circuits.

You will need volume 2 to go on to subjects like LCD control, serial data transmission etc.

Poor quality
For its $40 price I expected a higher quality book.The schematic diagrams and data sheet excerpts are poorly rendered, making them illegible.In Chapter 5 two pages are spent discouraging the use of the ++ increment operator because it makes code harder to read but the author never explains why he breaks his own rule throughout the book.Comments in many code examples refer to PORTB when operations are being performed with PORTC.Code examples are inconsistently formatted with arbitrary indentation, capitalization and comment structure.In my opinion a technical book for beginners should be accurate and clear; this one is not.

Great book to start PIC Programming in C
Mr. Hellebuyck has written another embedded processor gem. Reading each chapter is like listening to the author telling a captivating story. The book starts with a basic background of the Microchip abilities, I/O, and features, and moves seamlessly into programming simple I/O applications using the PIC KIT 2 Development board from Microchip.It is written from the author's notes as he taught himself C (HI-TECH PICC-Lite, included in the book) programming and addressed his mistakes and learning curve on to the reader. As you read each topic, Mr. Hellebuyck emphasizes the gotcha's most new C programmers struggle with. Although a very simple read with big letters, clearly written and explained code, schematics, and illustrations, this book is fun for the beginner and novice. It can be used as a quick reference for coding and syntax. I purchased the PIC Kit 2 and book as a package deal from Nuts & Volts and recommend buying both at the same time so you can get started with the projects. The author mentions that he is writing a second book to follow this one. It will cover intermediate and advanced levels of programming the microcontroller. I look forward to reading this one as well.

Don't waste your money!
This is the only review I have ever felt compelled to write.

I purchased this book, and "Programming 8-bit Microcontrollers in C" (Bates).Opening both books side by side, I can't believe I was duped by the five star reviews of this book.Granted, the author gives himself 5 stars in the CUSTOMER review section of each of his books.That should have been the first red flag.

I won't repeat what the others have said; I agree completely with the negative reviews.The quality of this book is atrocious.Pick up the "Programming 8-bit Microcontrollers in C" instead. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (5)

Good Book for Programmers, Probably Not-So-Much for Beginners
I would agree with the previously-reviewed notion that this book as an absolute beginner's guide is misleading.I happen to be an experienced programmer who works day-to-day in an object-oriented language (but not Objective-C), utilizing design patterns.I found the shorter explanations useful...I learned a few things and some (Objective-) C concepts were made clear, but I didn't have to wade through pages of "this is a loop.This is a function" that gets tiring to one who understands the general programming concepts.But as one who moonlights as a college professor that teaches these very same concepts, I would expect a beginner to get quickly overwhelmed by this book.

I also feel the book's promise to teach iPhone/Pad programming misleading (the subtitle is "Foundations of Mac, iPhone, and iPad Programming").Stevenson never introduces iPhone-specific programming concepts, or any of the unique aspects of Cocoa Touch and UIKit.There are mentions of such differences (like the discussion on CGImage, NSImage, and UIImage), but the mention is merely that, and no further information is provided.If you're looking to get into iPhone programming specifically, you can do better than this book.However, this book would supplement another iPhone book well, for its basics on C and Objective-C.

My biggest complaint is the Chapter 9 "real" application.Personally, I don't mind that it took that long to get to a practical app.But the chapter was basically one big "type all of this code in" with pages and pages of code on paper.The introductions to MVC and Core Data were pretty cursory, but I was hoping that through the practical example Core Data would be made clearer, and how it fit into MVC. Also, other topics such as drag-and-drop, fetch requests, and sorting were pretty much presented in the code and never discussed. Stevenson would do very well to refactor the chapter and present it in more of a step-by-step fashion.I found myself longing to hit "Build and Run" just to see something working, but knew that it would be pointless, because I just typed in a big, long class, which is supposed to use other classes that I haven't written yet.I just kept typing and typing, just sort of hoping that all would end well, and that I would have a clear understanding of how the app worked once it was done.

It didn't, and I don't.

What was needed were milestones.You know, just stub in a methods and properties, build and run.NSLog a few things, build and run.Flesh out the details of one of the views, build and run.Give the reader some stopping places where they can test the existing functionality against what they're supposed to see, and also just a stopping place in the reading!I couldn't do it all in one go, and it was difficult picking up where I left off the next day.

The funny thing (funny in a relative way) is that in the very next chapter, Stevenson does *exactly this* iterative approach that I'm talking about.We get into drawing into views, and we start with colors and rectangles.We build an app, and draw a colored rectangle.Hey, it works.Great, let's learn about bezier paths, now.Then move on to graidnets, and images, and then text, and then styling text, and finally user interaction.All the while, we build a simple (not very useful, but still cool enough) application that slowly builds up all of the techniques from a simple colored rectangle to an image with a border, shadow, and sheen, that's scaled properly, has a title that's rendered in a bezel below the image (and is optional) that can be dragged around the view and re-centered with a key press.We had so many stops along the way that it was pretty easy to check your work as you went, and I ended up with a working application, not to mention a much better understanding of these particular concepts.Chapter 10 is the model for what Chapter 9 should have been like.

That particular shortcoming is why I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5.If Stevenson addresses this, I'd happily give it 5.However, you need to be comfortable with a certain skill set before being able to harvest information from this book.That itself is not a flaw, although the marketing that implies otherwise is.

Just alright
I read this book on Safari online both the rough cut version and the final version.
I do find the book very easy to read as I always enjoy Scott Stevenson's Theocacao blog and his articles on [...]


One thing is certain that this book is not targeted for non-beginner, as the title suggested. Its content is introductory and far too short with 11 chapters. Compared to other books like Cocoa Programming (Aaron Hillegass) which has 35 chapters, it is obvious that a lot of topics are left out. Don't expect advanced topics like Core Animation, Grand Central etc.

Now for up-and-coming Cocoa programmer, is it a good book?
I felt that on this regard, the author is too ambitious.
It is tough to cover Cocoa and Foundation Framework, let alone having to cram C, Objective-C, object-oriented principles and design pattern into it, it ends up only touching the surface on most topics.
And if the newcomer want to know what's the iPhone or iPad app all about, sorry there is none mentioned.
It seems that the author fails on meeting both ends that, either lets the reader to build a solid foundation or having them a tastes of Mac, iPhone programming on Cocoa.

Honestly I wonder why publishing companies in general don't release computer programming books in a series.
If I think of this book as Volume I out of Volume 5, it is a pretty good book. And progressing with the series gives the readers a sense of achievement too.

The absolute best introduction to Cocoa programming
Scott Stevenson's tutorials on Cocoa Dev Central have been an invaluable resource for new Cocoa developers for many years, with down to earth descriptions of the essential topics of Cocoa programming and the Objective-C language.

This book brings all that and so much more. It is certainly `the' Cocoa programmer's guide to getting up and running. Starting off with an essential setup guide, chapter two quickly jumps into code, with a great introduction to the C programming language and basic programming concepts that form the foundations of thinking in code. Covering the perfect amount of C, from the ground up the author discusses the basics of variables, functions, conditions and straight forward examples of a procedural application.

Chapter Three dives deeper into C discussing arrays, loops, pointers, primitive types, dynamic memory and more. Scott does a great job of introducing new concepts at a human level, making each new idea tangible. This is where his tutorials have always thrived, and these chapters are definitely where I wish that I could have started my journey into programming.

Chapter Four is where the fun really begins. Thinking in Objects. The author begins to introduce the conceptual foundations of object oriented programming, with clear-cut examples of designing objects. The following two chapters compose the best introduction to Objective-C that I have seen, covering everything from classes, syntax and memory management to dynamic language features like introspection and forwarding messages, interspersed with quintessential thoughts on object-oriented design.

The next chapter discusses the Foundation framework and its value classes, the lower level component of Cocoa. A subject that is often abstract comes through in tangible examples of working with objects and the real life data they represent. This chapter goes into detail discussing many of the value classes that you will use regularly developing Cocoa applications. Styled like a reference, but broken apart by relevant topics, you go through data objects, collection classes, mutability and more, and every class and topic comes with a healthy portion of code. The examples in this section are great.

Chapter Eight is like starting a new book. Titled Basic Controls, it jumps into the user interface level of application development and covers the basics of creating an interface and wiring it up to your code. There are a lot of new topics that go into connecting UI to code, and I think Scott does a great job here of peeling away the layers of the subject, using good examples that help you make sense of things quickly.

The next section was the most helpful to me, as a Cocoa developer with some experience but certainly not expertise, the discussion of Model-View-Controller design and the great sample application were just what I needed to be able to picture the beginning points of real applications in my mind.

I love the chapter on custom drawing, and the amount of coverage it has on the details of creating custom UI programmatically. The sample photo viewer app, with a nice shine drawn on the photo programmatically, cracks open a world of possibilities. And the section on refactoring view code is a true gem; this one part was my favorite.

The final word is a take away guide absolutely worth revisiting.
-

Scott Stevenson has been an active member in the Mac developer community for many years, and has always been respected for his contributions through awesome tutorials on his website, focused on getting new beginners started, and great technical articles on his blog, ranging many topics relevant to writing software with Cocoa. I started with Scott's tutorials years ago, and have followed all of his material since, so I was really excited when this book was announced, and I can honestly say that it did not disappoint. It is the absolute best introduction to Cocoa programming with Objective-C, written by a true expert on the subject and one of the best teachers around.

Remarkable publication
My opinion is very different from the previous reviewer. This book is a remarkable publication for all those who want dive into Cocoa development. You should keep in mind that learning Cocoa is not that easy. Cocoa is driven by Objective-C which is a superset of the C programming language. In other words: it is required to know the basics of the C programming language before you start with Cocoa. With that fact in mind, Scott's book is one step beyond it's competitors, because it also gives an introduction to the basics of the C programming language, a unique feature in my eyes. It is written in a very likeable style. The examples are similar to the ones published on Theocacao and Cocoadevcentral, very informal and of course understandable. I recommend it to everyone who is willing to seriously develop for Mac / iPhone / iPad. If I could give 6 Stars, I would.

EDIT: Due to a recent comment on my review I decided to revise it (I did not buy the book here so I can't post a reply to said comment). I understand your concerns but there is no need to worry. It is indeed my first review at Amazon.com but it is not my first Amazon review at all. I come from Germany. Please open my profile and change the URL from .com to .de and you will see some more reviews I posted on Amazon Germany. I'm in no way affiliated with the author. At the time my review was published, it was the first positive, now there are more because it is simply one of the best Cocoa books around. It is also true that I did not buy the book from Amazon, I bought it digital. I think it makes absolutely no difference whether Amazon is the source or not. I bought here countless times and I just felt a need of sharing my experience with other Amazon customers. I think Amazon benefits from reviews that come from non-customers.

Not for Beginners
This book claims you can "build solid applications for Mac OS X, iPhone and iPad, regardless of whether you have basic programming skills or years of programming experience." Sadly, though, the concepts in this book ramp up so quickly and with so few examples that a beginner will get lost.

This reviewer has experience with web development using PHP and PERL, so I bought this book in the hopes that it would be basic without not sugar coating it for me. However, the author does not take enough baby steps to help readers through complex concepts. He instead hopes you'll retain pages upon pages of Accessors, Protocols and Instance Variables before you actually put them to any use. In fact, you don't actually start building a usable app until CHAPTER 8. I know Cocoa allows you to build useful things right out of the box, but this book focuses so much on the more esoteric concepts -- with very little context -- for nearly 200 pages.

I'm not sure WHO this book is written for. You need a computer science degree to keep up with the pace, but then if you have a computer science degree, you'll probably think this book is too basic. Very disappointed. ... Read more

Product Description
Get Started Fast with Objective-C 2.0 Programming for OS X, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad

Product Description
Welcome to the exciting world of game programming! If you’re already familiar with the C++ programming language and want to learn how to program games, this book is for you. Game Programming in C++: Start to Finish will help you learn how to turn your own game fantasies into playable realities!

Over the course of the book, you’ll learn the popular techniques and practices behind today’s games. Not only will you add a lot of theory to your game programming toolkit, but you’ll also create a small basic game from scratch – SuperAsteriodArena. While you’ll focus on using the SDL and the OpenGL libraries to learn game programming, you’ll also learn the essential Windows principles that you’ll need to create just about any kind of game with any other API such as DirectX.

This easy-to-follow book takes current game programming information and filters it down to a practical level. Each chapter and subsection builds upon previous chapters and topics in a tutorial format, allowing you to progress at your own pace. As you work through the book, you’ll build the SuperAsteriodArena game, beginning with engine creation and 3D programming with SDL and OpenGL. From there you’ll move on to animation effects, audio, collision detection, networking, and finalizing the game. A variety of tools are used throughout, including Visual Studio and OpenGL, SDL, Autodesk 3ds Max, and the Audacity sound tool.

Features:* Teaches C++ game programming in an easy-to-follow style* Uses the creation of a complete game – SuperAsteriodArena- to teach the entire game development process from concept and design document to finalizing the game* Explains important Windows programming techniques that can apply to any projectUses a variety of popular tools – Visual Studio, SDL, OpenGL, CVS, gDEBugger, Autodesk 3ds Max, and the Audacity sound tool* Includes a CD-ROM with libraries and tools, including the SDL libraries, trial versions of Audacity, 3ds Max 7, gDEBugger, InnoSetup, CVSNT, doxygen, the source code from the book, and the complete game from the book

On the CD!* Demos: gDEBugger (Graphic Remedy) – Tools for finding and isolating problems with OpenGL commands; MoleBox Pro (MoleBox) – Utility for compressing game assets; Autodesk 3ds Max 7 demo

* Tools: SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer); CEGUI (Crazy Eddie’s GUI System); Lua (The Lua Interpreter); OpenAL (The Open Audio Library); PreplicaNet; Tokaak (The Tokamak Physics Library); Audacity; BitmapFontBuilder; CVSNT; Doxygen; InnoSetup

* Game Files and Source code

System Requirements: A PC running Windows NT4.0/95/98/2000 or XP. To compile the source code you will need a PC capable of compiling C++ modules. The sample projects included are compatible with either Visual Studio 6.0 SP6 or Visual Studio .NET 2003 (other compilers are an option but are untested at this time. To run the sample game, you will need any version of Windows (newer than NT4.0) with at least 1 GHz CPU and a minimum of 256MB of RAM. You will need a 3D accelerated video card with at least 32MB of onboard VRAM and the latest drivers from your vendor. For Visual Studio 2005 code, visit the book’s Web page. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Terrible
This book is all over the place and is hard to follow. The author mixes various subjects with no obvious focus and throws code listings at you that you don't know where to place.

Probably the worst programming book I own.

Frustration
I saw the Thomson logo at the top left on the front cover and thought it was textbook quality.I was dead wrong!!As the engineer said, the directions are incoherent and you don't even know when he has given instructions or just an example.I had to search the web for help answers just to do the "Hello World" application.There is no troubleshooting guide in case you get stuck.If you get stuck you better clear up your schedule cause you will be searching for answers for a while.Why not spend that time and buy a good book on programming.I would expect more from a programmer than this garbled mess of words.

designing games
This programming book was just what my son was wanting.He thinks it will really help refine his gaming progams.

Made me Dizzy
It's ironic that a programmer would be so terrible at giving directions. To start out with, the directions for setting up SDL (a necessary programming toolkit) were almost non-existant. Just this small task took me 8+ hours, and I had to resort to browsing web-forums!

Often the directions were so terrible that it wasn't even clear whether or not he'd just given directions for a procedure or was just providing an example. As a programmer, the author should be able to give sequential, succinct, and easily-followable directions. At this,the author, unfortunately, fails miserably.

Avoid This Book
I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who is trying to start out in game programming.I am a grad student engineer and have been programming for over 5 years.I just recently got into game and graphics programming and this book is really terrible compared to some others I've seen.The only reason I gave it two stars is because the chapter on graphics mathematics is fairly complete, and the book provides a good high level picture of how a game is structured.However, the code specifics are downright horrible, the listings seem to be randomly thrown in without any clue as to where they should go in an actual program, the writing is boring, the directions are sparse and inchoerent, and much of the source code provided on the CD is incredibly difficult to get running (if it runs at all).Also, there is a discussion board on wazoo, but don't excpect much help.Many of the forums end with unanswered questions including many that I had.For an intro book to programming games, save your money for another book, because this book just isn't worth the cost in wasted time and money. ... Read more

Product Description
Find out how to tell your computer what to do

Design and develop programs, compile and link code, fix problems, and more

Come "C" what all the excitement’s about! C programs are fast, concise, and versatile, and you’ll be writing them in no time. This friendly book unlocks the mysteries of coding, compiling, adding comments, and using keywords, I/O, variables, integers, and all the rest. You’ll write your first C program before you finish Chapter 1!

The Dummies Way

• Explanations in plain English
• "Get in, get out" information
• Icons and other navigational aids
• Tear-out cheat sheet
• Top ten lists
• A dash of humor and fun

Discover how to:

• Understand the entire program development cycle
• Link code to create executable programs
• Debug and deploy your programs
• Use floats, integer variables, and if statements
• Write functions and use loops

Customer Reviews (17)

If you wanna understand C ...
then buy this book.Gives an excellent understanding and foundation, better than any school recommended book.But if you need this, you will also need the all-in-one-desk reference for dummies as your knowledge will need the next step pronto

Very useful
I found the book very clear and funny, which makes the reading way more easy. I still haven't finished it so I can't quite rate the whole book but by now it looks like a great purchase. I would recommend it.

C for dummies
This is a great book.Received it just in time to complete my college requirement.Thanks.

this book is okay
I bought a million books before taking a class in C. This was one of them.

It seems okay, I guess, but not great. I ended up using the Dietel book for class, which was amazing - although I'm not positive I would have enjoyed it so much without the aid of an instructor.

I think the best book I used for learning on my own was by Apress - but I generally like all of their books.

Good starting point, but then...
I'm not a programmer or "coder", but I do know the basic ideas behind programming. That aside, my attention tends to wander when learning new things, and sometimes a little light entertainment can go a long way. When I wanted to learn to use the C programming language and thought I'd give the "Dummies" offering a try.

Here's the things that it covers well:
Where to get a decent (and free) C compiler.
The program's basic structure and syntax.
Putting text on a standard text screen. (Think DOS or CLI)
Getting input from the keyboard.
Introducing you to the basic variable types.
Doing some basic math with numeric variables.
Doing program branching with numeric variables.
Doing program branching with single character variables.
Looping.

Now for the bad news...
Do not expect to be able to learn any of the following:
Read or write to the file system.
Concatenate or otherwise manipulate string variables.
Perform program branching using string variables.
Gain a proficient understanding to write anything that is actually useful.
Access any other system hardware or software such as the mouse, theinternet, graphics, other running programs, etc...

There was one aspect I felt was very annoying. About halfway through the book, the author starts to plug his other book, "C All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies" for information that he isn't going to cover in this book, and it gets more and more intrusive as the humor winds down, and the book drones on. Of course if you're willing to be seen reading a book marketed towards "dummies" you can probably expect to be played as one too.

All in all, I do feel this book has merit and makes for a good starting point. It has immensely helped me to understand the C programming language, and I can comprehend the basic ideas. It was worth the time and money even though I was expecting to achieve more practical results before I started. ... Read more

Product Description
Concise and easy to use, this handy guide to C is a must-have quick reference for any C programmer. It's the only C reference that fits in your pocket and is an excellent companion to O'Reilly's other C books.Ideal as an introduction for beginners and a quick reference for advanced programmers, the C Pocket Reference consists of two parts: a compact description of the C language and a thematically structured reference to the standard library.The representation of the language is based on the ANSI standard and includes extensions introduced in 1999.An index is included to help you quickly find the information you need. This small book covers the following:

• C language fundamentals
• Data types
• Expressions and operators
• C statements
• Declarations
• Functions
• Preprocessor directives
• The standard library

Customer Reviews (6)

Great Reference
Needed this book for a class in college, found it to be perfect for referencing C language specifics. Getting a B in the class right now with no previous C programming experience.

Solid info, but written very poorly...
Sorry I can't agree with the previous reviewers, but it must be stated that this book is written very poorly. I appreciate the concept (a compact, concise reference of the C language), but the execution is sorely lacking. For starters, there is very little sample code in the book, and only a single fully functioning program (given on p. 3). I know the book's intended to be a reference, not a thorough C tutorial, but I still believe that it would be much better if the book guided you through C language with more samples and some simple, short programs to demonstrate the concepts presented.

The most glaring problem, however is the fact that the English language used in the book itself is more impenetrable than lowest-level programming language. This stems from the fact that the book was originally written in German, and the entire text had to be translated. Sorry, to say it, but there's definitely something lost in translation. From sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph, there's no flow whatsoever--every expression is very awkward and difficult to understand, and the reader's eyes begin to glaze over after reading only a few pages.

To summarize, a book should present its concepts in a logical and easy-to-follow manner, and this book definitely does NOT do that. Avoid.

A handy reference
O'Reilly Pocket Books are known for being thorough, concise, and clear, and this one is no different.I have half a dozen on my bookshelf over a variety of subjects, and they come in handy for that occassion when you want a specific answer in short order.

A backpocket Reference
I am a computer Science Student and the one book that I take to every class is this book. It is the perfect book for quick lookup I would recomend it to anyone

Packed Full of great info!
This is a great book, for the size of the book it is packed full of
C. It also covers alot of C99. ... Read more

Product Description
Here is the CORBA book that every C++ software engineer has been waiting for. Advanced CORBA(r) Programming with C++ provides designers and developers with the tools required to understand CORBA technology at the architectural, design, and source code levels. This book offers hands-on explanations for building efficient applications, as well as lucid examples that provide practical advice on avoiding costly mistakes.With this book as a guide, programmers will find the support they need to successfully undertake industrial-strength CORBA development projects.

The content is systematically arranged and presented so the book may be used as both a tutorial and a reference. The rich example programs in this definitive text show CORBA developers how to write clearer code that is more maintainable, portable, and efficient. The authors' detailed coverage of the IDL-to-C++ mapping moves beyond the mechanics of the APIs to discuss topics such as potential pitfalls and efficiency. An in-depth presentation of the new Portable Object Adapter (POA) explains how to take advantage of its numerous features to create scalable and high-performance servers. In addition, detailed discussion of advanced topics, such as garbage collection and multithreading, provides developers with the knowledge they need to write commercial applications.

Other highlights

In-depth coverage of IDL, including common idioms and design trade-offs
Complete and detailed explanations of the Life Cycle, Naming, Trading, and Event Services
Discussion of IIOP and implementation repositories
Insight into the dynamic aspects of CORBA, such as dynamic typing and the new DynAny interfaces
Advice on selecting appropriate application architectures and designs
Detailed, portable, and vendor-independent source codeAmazon.com Review
Written for the experienced C++ developer facing real-worldCORBA for the first time, Advanced CORBA Programming with C++is a useful guide to today's most popular standard for distributedcomputing.

After a quick tour of CORBA basics, the authors jumpright in with a minimum skeleton application written in C++. Fromthere, they provide truly extensive coverage of CORBA IDL, along withmany tips for using IDL data types in C++. (They cover advancedfeatures such as any, TypeCode, and DynAny laterin the book.).

Next the book unveils its sample application--adistributed climate control system. Material on the Portable ObjectAdapter and the Object Life Cycle, including garbage collectionstrategies, rounds out this section. Additional chapters examine thedetails of Object Request Brokers (ORBs), including Internet Inter-ORBProtocol (IIOP), repositories, and binding. The authors also presentCORBA's built-in APIs for Naming, Trading, and Event Services(including asynchronous event handling), which is most useful asreference material.

Final sections examine strategies for betterscalability, including multithreading and optimizing network trafficfor CORBA objects. The authors provide numerous short excerpts of C++code, though it must be said that much of this book is referencematerial rather than a hands-on programming tutorial. --RichardDragan ... Read more

Customer Reviews (30)

Great CORBA Book
This has to be one of the best CORBA books that I have read. It has helped me debug code and fix some really knotty problems. I found the exposition clear and easy to follow, and the index a useful tool. I don't think the authors intended it to be read cover-to-cover.

If I am working on a CORBA project I alway like to have this book to hand.

Excellent introduction to CORBA
For my money, this book is worth every cent and more. The authors are knowledgeable and articulate. If you know of a better book on CORBA, please let me know.....

A good book for advanced users
As the title states this is a book for advanced programmers. Not the kind of book I would recommend to someone looking to pick up a book and the learn from it. Might serve as an excellent reference source.

Advance CORBA with C++
Good book. Worth the money. There is a a lot of material here and it is pretty well organized. Some of the examples assume to much - they would be better if they showed complete code segements. If you needed to get one book on C++ and CORBA, this would be the one.

One book to buy? This'd be it..
Don't wish to wade through book after book? This book would be the one to buy! The concepts are clearly defined and the code examples are fairly easy to follow. (The thermostat example grows too complicated at the end of the book to even comprehend all pieces - authors could use other smaller constructs to show the concepts.)

The authors are well-versed in the topic and it shows in every chapter. There is no hand-waving on topics, as I have seen in other treatments of this subject.

I've been a Corba programmer for the last 3 years and this has been my bible...

Can't wait to see a second edition of this book from the authors! ... Read more

Product Description
This book takes up where C Programming - A Beginner's Course leaves off. It assumes you have a working knowledge of basic programming concepts such as variables, constants, assignment, selection (if..else) and looping (while, for). It also assumes you are comfortable with writing functions and working with arrays. If you are not, it is recommended that you study C Programming - A Beginner's Course before tackling the material in this book.As in the first book, the emphasis is not on teaching the C language, per se, but rather, on using C to teach concepts that any budding programmer should know. The major topics covered are sorting, searching, merging, structures, pointers, linked lists, stacks, queues, recursion and random numbers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

An Excellent C Programming Book!
There are many excellent books which one can buy to learn the C programming language, two of which are "C Programming - A Beginner's Course" and "C Programming - An Advance Course" by Dr. N. Kalicharan.

Together these books give the reader essential knowledge of the C programming language. This book, the latter of the two, builds on the foundation of the first. Like the first, all topics covered, which include structures, pointers, linked-list, stacks, queues, recursion, random numbers and working with files, are very well explained and are backed with working C code and multiple illustrative diagrams to aid understanding of the particular topic being discussed.

The author also illustrates how to apply some of the topics covered to real world applications. To anyone wanting to learn C programming, I strongly recommend these books. They will get you up and coding quickly.

Very clear explanation of difficult concepts
I received my book in excellent condition from Amazon so I'm unable to understand what reviewer Kron is complaining about. The book itself is a joy to read. The explanations are the clearest I've read in any text book (and I've read several). The programs are well-presented and they all worked, first time.

I had always heard that learning about pointers in C was a nightmare. But Kalicharan's explanations make it all seem so simple. Ditto for linked lists, stacks and queues. Another difficult topic for most beginners is recursion. Again, the concepts are clearly presented. I never thought I'd be able to write a program to find a path through a maze but after Kalicharan explains how, you wonder why everyone else makes it seem so difficult.

This is not a big book, but it is big on clarity and simplicity - the author has knack for explaining difficult concepts in clear, simple terms. I learned a lot from this book and I recommend it highly.

A pirated book??!
I can't believe I received this book from Amazon.It looks like some high school kid printed out a pirated eBook, put it in a binding, and shipped it off before heading to a rave...The text fonts for the code snippets look bizarre, unprofessional, and distracting (Comic Sans MS(?)); many of the pages are printed sheered and crooked (as if the original text that was pirated was simply folded on top of a cheap scanner, and not even fed through a high-speed feeder); the font size is big enough that even grandpa could enjoy a nice perusal into "Advanced C Programming" without his spectacles; etc.In short, the 218-page "book" could have easily been a <100-page handout/supplement.

Two stars because the content looks descent for an intermediate level (I've only glanced through it at this point), but it's definitely does not strike me as an "advanced" book on C; the binding seems strong; and the price is right (??). ... Read more

Product Description
A novel approach to developing and applying databases with Visual C#.NET

Practical Database Programming with Visual C#.NET clearly explains the considerations and applications in database programming with Visual C#.NET 2008 and in developing relational databases such as Microsoft Access, SQL Server, and Oracle Database. Sidestepping the traditional approach of using large blocks of code, Ying Bai utilizes both Design Tools and Wizards provided by Visual Studio.NET and real-time object methods to incorporate over sixty real sample database programming projects along with detailed illustrations and explanations to help readers understand the key techniques and programming technologies in database programming. This invaluable resource features:

• Fundamental and advanced database programming techniques for beginning and experienced students as well as programmers

• A real completed sample database CSE_DEPT with three versions (Microsoft Access 2007, SQL Server 2005 SP2, and Oracle Database 10g XE Release 2) used throughout the entire book

• Step-by-step details on designing and building a practical relational database

• Discussion and analysis of the new database query technique, LINQ API—which includes LINQ to Objects, LINQ to DataSet, LINQ to SQL, LINQ to Entities, and LINQ to XML—and implementation in actual projects with line-by-line explanation

• Homework and selected solutions for each chapter to strengthen and improve learning and understanding

• An Instructor's Manual (MS PPT), example codes and exercise questions, homework/exercise solutions, and database projects available for free download

• E-mail assistance from the author

Readers who will benefit highly from this reference are undergraduate or graduate students majoring in computer science and engineering, graduate students in all engineering departments, and software engineers and researchers in academic and industrial fields.

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Would rate this higher but there are way too many errors.
Within the first two chapters, there are many errors.For example, refer to fig 2.8 customer table?The discussion is about tables with names of faculty - no customer tables in this book.I assumed the author was talking about the faculty table - but then there were references to columns that did not exist in that table.So I don't know what table the author was referring to.There are a few of these type errors.


The bigger errors are with examples.First, you put in 1NF (normalize), then put in 2nf.If you are in 1nf and 2nf you can then put in 3nf.Then the author breaks out a bad table into two tables and says they are now in 3nf.Only one problem - one of the new tables is not even in 2nf.

If these major bugs were cleaned up, I would rate this book higher.

Oh, and when you say "refer to Appendix B" on page 46 - maybe you should actually have an appendix B.Just my two cents....err..$80 worth....

... Read more

Product Description

It seems as if everyone is writing applications for Apple’s iPhone and iPad, but how do they all do it? It’s best to learn Objective-C, the native language of both the iOS and Mac OS X, but where to begin? Right here, even if you’ve never programmed before!

Objective-C for Absolute Beginners will teach you how to write software for your Mac, iPhone,or iPad using Objective-C, an elegant and powerful language with a rich set of developer tools. Using a hands-on approach, you’ll learn to think in programming terms, how to use Objective-C to build program logic, and how to write your own applications and apps.

With over 50 collective years in software development and based on an approach pioneered at Carnegie Mellon University, the authors have developed a remarkably effective approach to learning Objective-C. Since the introduction of Apple’s iPhone, the authors have taught hundreds of absolute beginners how to develop Mac, iPhone,and iPad apps, including many that became popular apps in the iTunes App Store.

What you’ll learn

• The fundamentals of computer programming: how to understand variables, design data structures, and work with file systems
• The logic of object-oriented programming: how to use Classes, Objects, and Methods
• The flexibility of Apple’s developer tools: how to install Xcode and write programs in Objective-C
• The power of Cocoa and Cocoa touch: how to make Mac OS X applications or iOS apps that do cool stuff

Who this book is for

Everyone! This book is for anyone who wants to learn to develop applications for the Mac or apps for the iPhone and iPad using the Objective-C programming language. No previous programming experience is necessary.

Customer Reviews (17)

Wow
So I just got this delivered today, and I've gotta say: I need to read ALL the reviews instead of just accepting an average.

As others have said, there are various typos and other grammatical errors, which could be excusable since you don't need to be an English major to write a program.

Problem is, those aren't the only problems with this book.

I'd only made it to chapter three before I got fed up with the layout of it.They'll tell you to start a new project, then tell you to run the code, and only after all of that do they show you the code you need to put into the editor.

I've got some programming experience with Visual Basic, and I've gotta say: If not for that, I'd prolly have not even given this book THAT much of a chance.

Gonna go ahead and return it for a different book, and in the interim, tackle "Programming in Objective-C 2.0" by Stephen G. Kochan.From the sample I've read, it's already proven to be this book's superior.

Yeah, beginners....RIGHT
I have programming experience, and this book is absolutely terrible for any beginner or even advanced student. The grammar is horrible and the ideas and concepts are not explained at all. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK, if you are new to programming. Trust me, your head will probably explode trying to grasp these concepts explained by these authors. It does not offer any basic understanding to beginners.

Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy
I've been trying to teach myself Objective C, and had high hopes that this was the breakthrough book I've been looking for.What a disappointment!Bad enough that the book was obviously never proof-read -- so many typo's and grammatical errors -- but it is just plain incomplete.The number-guessing example for Alice (p. 172) uses coding strategies that are never explained, and if you don't know Alice beforehand (I don't) you haven't a chance of duplicating it.

Then we move on to Objective C.Here's an example (p. 92): "Methods need to go outside of the @interface portion, but still inside of the @interface portion of the header file."If I was trying to confuse students on purpose, I couldn't have done a better job.

What truly pushed me to write this review, though, was the "Understanding C Language Basics" section on pp 98-99.An example of a simple program is given on p. 98 (in C; I'm not sure why the authors think it necessary to go back to C in order to teach Objective C), and the explanation of the code on p. 99 describes a statement which isn't even in the example.

These authors had a good idea.It's a shame that they didn't take the time and trouble to execute it even half-way well.

Really bad book, and definitely not for absolute beginners.
A few months ago, I discovered programming with JavaScript. I bought a book that taught me all the basics of this language, and I was quickly able to make some things with it. This was a great experience and a nice surprise to me as I was not confident on my ability to learn any kind of programming.
So after this great experience, I wanted to go further and discover the world of objective C. So I bought "Objective-C for absolute beginners" and it was clearly a huge disappointment. It's certainly the worst book I've ever read, and it did not teach me anything.

So, the five first chapters are a pure waste of time. The exercises are not explained at all, and completely useless. First you have an exercise where you are making a short program using alice. So you follow the step by step (which contains many many mistakes), and... nothing. No explanations and you go straight to XCode where you follow another step by step still with no explanations on what you are doing, no explanations on the syntax, nothing.At the end of the chapters we have some exercises that we can't do as we don't have the explanations of how all this is working...

The sixth chapter is a new introduction to what we were already meant to know, as it's another introduction to Objective C and Xcode !?!? but still not clear enough and don't give enough informations to get used to objective C.

The seventh chapter is then a huge gap, as it is very technical and quite abstract. It explains quite a lot of things, but we are still missing a lot of the basics.

And I couldn't continue reading it further as it became too technical. I was completely lost in chapter 8. You do a lot of stuff here in the step by step, but nothing is explained.

So a really really big disappointment. This book is definitely not for absolute beginners. For those who still want to try the experience, you can skip the 5 first chapters, it's pure waste of time.

I really don't understand the 5 stars comments about his book. Did the editor pay for them?

Excellent resource - I definitely got my money's worth
This book is outstanding, and I highly recommend "Objective C for Absolute Beginners", by Bennett, Fisher, and Lees.If you are starting to venture into iPhone or iPad development, this book is a superb foundation.I've given it 5 stars because I gained so much valuable information from reading the explanations, and following the code samples.

(1) The authors introduce the concept of Object Oriented Programming by using `Alice', a software program for which they provide the download instructions and some very simple programming activities.I have already worked with Object Oriented Programming (OOP) for several years, but decided to read along just in case I picked up any additional ideas from this book.Honestly, if I had been able to get my hands on a resource like this when I first started, it would have saved me a great deal of head-scratching and confusion -- I really envy anyone learning about OOP by using this book! Since I can't rewind my own experience, the best that I can do is strongly encourage anyone else to follow the approach that these authors outline, because it is very powerful.
They clearly have experience teaching basic, fundamental concepts and it really adds a valuable dimension to this book.

(2) The authors' collective knowledge base is impressive -- for instance, they explain how memory is stored, which helped me understand why certain procedures need to be followed in a specific way.This is basic knowledge that will serve anyone long after they are finished with this book, and I'm really glad that I took time to slowly read my way through the entire book.When I first started this book, many features of Objective C looked really weird to me -- but the authors' background explanations helped me see **why** Objective C follows certain rules and formats.Each of the three authors brings expertise, and that was a real benefit for me.

(3) This book contains the clearest, best description of a SWITCH statement that I've ever read (and I own approximately 100 computer manuals, so I regard myself as qualified to make this kind of assessment). In other words, the authors do a good job of conveying basic concepts that you will use over, and over again.I wish that I'd had a book like this when I first started out writing small applications (!).

(4) The book is very well organized; I felt that each chapter provided me with a good intro to a topic. After each chapter, I felt that I was making progress and I could read the Chapter Summaries to note which new concepts I'd added to my own knowledge base.

(5) The whole book is excellent, but the sections on debugging and on storing information were particularly useful in my case -- I'm still new to XCode, so for me this content was invaluable.


The downsides:
As with all computer books, there are typos and a few spots where the copy editors missed some flaws.I tend to skip over these kinds of errors, because in my experience they come with the territory.If you hit a mistyped word, keep reading and skip over it!

The more serious errors, in my view, are with code samples **in the book** that don't work properly.However, in hopes that it will help some other future programmer, I'm happy to post my 'workaround' along with my review, in hopes that it will assist others to save some time and eliminate frustration.

I would advise any users to follow my method for working with computer manuals:read the chapter, then try the code samples printed in the book.
If you run into a problem, the first thing you should do -- assuming that you are new to all this computer manual stuff -- is check the files you've downloaded from the book's site at Apress.

Download an application like TextWrangler, or whatever "file compare" software you prefer.
This software -- and others like it -- enable you to pull up two files and get a report of what differences exist between them.
First, you pull up the code file that you have written, and then you compare it with THE DOWNLOADED FILE FROM THE APRESS BOOK WEBPAGE for that same code sample.TextWrangler will then highlight code that differs from one file to another, and you can easily, methodically figure out where your problems lie.

I tend to find the DOWNLOADED FILES to be the best template to use any time that I need to copy and practice writing some code -- in fact, I honestly am not sure why computer manual companies print the code samples in the books.The downloaded files always work, whereas the manual printed code often does notwork -- not just in this book, but in many other manuals that I own. (I assume that somehow the wrong code gets in the printed versions of these manuals; if you just use the DOWNLOADED FILES, you can't go wrong -- but it took me quite a few manuals and problems to figure this method out.So I pass it along in case it helps someone new to the process.)

My only quibble with this book is that some of the code in the book does not work for me -- however, using myTextWrangler workaround solves that problem.

Despite that one quibble, I highly recommend this book.
I actually have it in both eBook and print versions; sometimes it is easier for me to compare an eBook to my own code, but that's a personal preference.

I'm putting this title in my `top 10%" in terms of quality of content, ability to convey fundamental concepts, and topics covered.It is an excellent value for my money -- in fact, if I were going to give an iPhonebook as a gift, this is the one that I'd select. If you are buying a gift for someone else, you can't go wrong with this title.If I were giving a gift, this is the book that I'd select for someone trying to learn about Objective C and developing for iPhone and iPad. ... Read more

Product Description
C is a favored and widely used programming language, particularly within the fields of science and engineering. C Programming for Scientists and Engineers with Applications guides readers through the fundamental, as well as the advanced concepts, of the C programming language as it applies to solving engineering and scientific problems. Ideal for readers with no prior programming experience, this text provides numerous sample problems and their solutions in the areas of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, physics, chemistry, and more. It begins with a chapter focused on the basic terminology relating to hardware, software, problem definition and solution. From there readers are quickly brought into the key elements of C and will be writing their own code upon completion of Chapter 2. Concepts are then gradually built upon using a strong, structured approach with syntax and semantics presented in an easy-to-understand sentence format. Readers will find C Programming for Scientists and Engineers with Applications to be an engaging, user-friendly introduction to this popular language. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Worst Programming Book I Have Tried to Read
This book is over-priced. It is very hard to follow, and does not make key points clear. Even as a seasoned programmer, I was looking for a C book for my brother to learn from. This was one of the books that I picked up, and I was rather disappointed by it.

for the beginner
Part of the reason for the book's bulk is the authors' extensive use of complete example programs. Typically other programming texts furnish code snippets, which is no big deal if you are an experienced programmer. But this text is directed at someone with absolutely no previous experience with programming [in any language]. Hence, by providing entire programs, the reader has a simpler time.

There is also a good use of flowcharts. The reader needs to get familiar with these, as a diagrammatic way of understanding programs and their underlying algorithms. If you want to make a living in this field, flowcharting is a basic skill to be cultivated.

Pseudocode is also given. Another aspect of programming that must be learnt. Part of your core competence will be to take pseudocode and manually translate this into functioning C code [or code of another language].

The book covers all major elements of C. The most interesting discussion might be about strings. This is a major weakness of C, since a string is not a basic data type. Hence the book warns about overruns - which are mismatches between the space you allocate for a string and the actual writing of a string into that space. What the book doesn't stress is that in practice, this is one of the major causes, if not the main cause, of bugs in C programs. Later languages like Java and C# realised this error in C and promoted strings to a fundamental data type, for this very reason.
... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (14)

Only for Advanced Computer Programmers.
As an experienced computer programmer, I found "C in a Nutshell" informative but difficult at times to understand because of the way advanced concepts are presented assuming the reader has already been introduced to the C programming language and computers.The book assumes readers already know advanced mathematical concepts such as modulo division, binary and hexadecimal numbering systems, and computer hardware architecture.The book gives a good background history of the development of the C computer programming language.One feature that I missed was a complete ASCII code table giving the ASCII code for all 256 characters.It's a minor inconvenience but something that came up in the classroom because the teacher did not "know" the ASCII code for the NULL Character (it's 0).The book states that it assumes the reader has taken an introductory cource in the C programming language.The paperback edition is light in weight, portable and priced below most college text books.This book is completely text oriented; there are essentially no graphical diagrams, and everything is in black and white, no color.That saves money which is a major consideration, but it may leave some readers with a rather sterile feeling that lacks the warmth of color which I prefer over black and white since life is in "living color."

Must Have Book
C in a Nutshell is nearly a requirement for any serious C programmer. With a large portion of modern education being focused on objected oriented programming it can be difficult to strip away all the trimmings and get down to the nitty-gritty. This book is essentially the important details of C shoved into 600 pages. It includes a very decent introduction to C, but its real virtue is as a reference book.
The book is divided into two sections. The first is on the syntax of C and how to do basic tasks. Each subsection is clearly marked on the edge of the page, and contains a simple explanation of the concept, making it indispensable to look up simple tasks for the less frequent C programmer. Deeper into the section, some caveats to certain methods are explored, which can take hours out of difficult debugging. The real advantage of this book lies here in these lesser known features and functions of the C language.
The second primary section contains a very detailed reference of the C Standard Library. Each function is described along with usage examples, and a list of related functions. While very detailed, this section seems to be less useful compared to similar hyperlinked reference libraries available. When relevant, several gotchas are included in the section, but the majority of the functions are simply described and examples are shown.
Finally, there are several chapters on the commonly used tools for C development. GCC, make, and GDB are each explained in very good detail, with several lesser known options explored. These sections act as complimentary appendices to the bulk of the text, and round out the book into a very comprehensive reference on the C language.

C in a Nutshell
This is an excellent reference, one that I turn to almost every day. As one reviewer stated, this is not a book for those unfamiliar with C, but as a semi-experienced C programmer, I find it invaluable. I especially appreciate the little examples that it gives for many of the functions in the "Standard Library" section, they have helped me out of many a jam. I expect to be using this book for many years to come.

Look for a cow on the cover Practical C not C++
Look for a cow on the cover of this book.I bought this book for a C in UNIX class.The C part is great.

There is hardly a page that does not have an example or enlightening diagram.However, the only reference to applying this to UNIX is in the back where it "Practically" says that there are different versions of UNIX.It never really clamed to be a UNIX book on C.The section on unbufferd I/O has a little more on the UNIX handling of files.Over all, until something better comes along I am still using this book.

The Perfect Desk Reference for C
I bought this because of it's section on GCC and GDB. The book is an excellent reference. The examples (for everything) are good and to the point. The examples cover enough to give you what you need without wasting time with setup. The book is organized in a way that makes it easy to find what you need. It's worth the money if you use C on a fairly regular basis. Again, the reference on GCC and GDB is invaluable. ... Read more

Product Description
With Microsoft's recent release of their Visual Development Studio (Visual Studio .Net), a new programming language has been introduced. The new language is C# .Net. Programming in C# .NET has been written by the successful author team of Bradley and Millspaugh, who write our Visual Basic books. Therefore, the book maintains the strong pedagogy that has been used to teach students how to program. This book assumes no prior knowledge of programming and it incorporates basic concepts of programming, problem solving, and programming logic and design techniques to teach students a mastery of C #.Net at an introductory level.Microsoft's Visual Studio Development Environment includes the increasingly popular programming language: Visual C# . Programming in Visual C# 2005 has been written by the successful author team of Bradley and Millspaugh, who write our Visual Basic books. Therefore, the book maintains the strong pedagogy that has been used to teach students how to program. This book assumes no prior knowledge of programming and it incorporates basic concepts of programming, problem solving, and programming logic and design techniques to teach students a mastery of C # at an introductory level. ... Read more

Product Description
The era of practical parallel programming has arrived, marked by the popularity of the MPI and OpenMP software standards and the emergence of commodity clusters as the hardware platform of choice for an increasing number of organizations. This exciting new book, "Parallel Programming in C with MPI and OpenMP" addresses the needs of students and professionals who want to learn how to design, analyze, implement, and benchmark parallel programs in C using MPI and/or OpenMP. It introduces a rock-solid design methodology with coverage of the most important MPI functions and OpenMP directives. It also demonstrates, through a wide range of examples, how to develop parallel programs that will execute efficiently on today's parallel platforms. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Overall good seller

The shipping was very fast and the book is in good condition, except
for a lot of handwritten markings on all pages :(

Good Introduction to Parallel Programming with MPI
This book is a great introduction to the theory of parallel programming.It is important to note that it is not a great reference for MPI, but it does a good job introducing the basic MPI functions and how to implement parallel programs using them.

If you are looking for a good parallel programming primer, this book is a good start.If you are looking for an MPI reference guide, or a detailed discussion of more advanced MPI use, look elsewhere.

What it does, it does well
I used this as a textbook for a parallel programming course in 2005.The author goes into a fair amount of detail about a number of different algorithms (e.g., fast fourier transforms, differential equations, sorting, alpha-beta pruning) rather than focusing exclusively on parallel programming constructs.I consider this a feature; the algorithms serve as good motivation and illustrations of the parallel programming concepts that are presented.

The summaries of the MPI commands in the appendix are as good as anything I've found on the web.

The book also gives detailed examples (code) of how to do mundane things like distributing the contents of a file across distributed memory processors and using your random number generator in such a way as to guarantee that your program produces the same results irrespective of the number of processors it runs on.

Excellent Introduction to MPI
This book provides very good introductory material to beginners of parallel programming in MPI. It provides many examples and through them one can learn not only the syntax of MPI but also how to design parallel programs.

Probably not worth the money
Well, to begin with, for a book that has "...programming in C..." in the title, there is very little C code in the text-- most is pseudocode. Most of the book is an analysis of various parallel algorithms, with very little instruction on how to use MPI. There are much better resources out there for learning MPI, as Quinn only covers about 30 of the over 100 functions in MPI, without all that much detail. Some of extremely important and necessary concepts of parallel programming are only mentioned in passing...such as load balancing. Most of the applications (with the exception of matrix operations) are simple and basic to the point of making me wonder why you would even bother parallelizing them...even as a pedagogical tool. The book does a very good job of analyzing algorithms, but calling it an "introduction to MPI" or even an "introduction to parallel programming" textbook is incorrect. ... Read more

Product Description
An essential technical programming reference for Web sites. Inconcise, clear language, this book explains how to write CGI programsto implement dynamic documents that provide interactivity andmultimedia features for Web sites using UNIX-based HTTP servers.Amazon.com Review
Nicely balanced treatment of CGI programming in both C, whichhas distinct performance advantages, and Perl, currently the mostpopular language for CGI. Written by the long-time maintainer of theUsenet comp.infosystems.www FAQ (and fellow Seattleite), ThomasBoutell. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

The seller was awesome.
The product got here in an efficient amount of time.

Unfortunately, this is one of those common cases of the teacher having the students get a book that turns out to be useless. The homework, projects, and tests aren't even based on this book. In fact, because of that, I hate this book.

Still, probably a great product for people that need it. Especially for those that know C language. It provides the PERFECT transition from C to Perl. There wasn't as much as I need in there, but this seems more like an introductory book.

Summary: Good intro book, especially for those that know C. Teachers suck.

Awesome book
I tried for a long time to get a handle on C.My background is PERL, and then later PHP, so i figured it might make sense for me to come at this from a web-based perspective.By chapter 4 I knew enough to start writing simple programs on my own (not using samples in the book).By the end of chapter 7 I was well versed enough to start more complex programs using PATH_INFO variables.Extremely good book.If you write web-based apps, and are thinking about learning C this is *the* book.

One reviewer mentioned something about screenshots looking old, which is true, they are obviously Netscape 1, running on Unix's now ancient Motif window manager, but the concepts are all still exactly the same.The cgi's you write will look the same on Netscape 1, as they do on Seamonkey, or IE, or Safari so that's no big deal.

I gave it a 5 because the concepts contained inside are very well written easy to understand and this is the only book that has given me a decent base on which to learn C.

If I could change my rating now, I'd give it a 3 or 4.I wrote some more complex CGI's based on some of the ones in this book that didn't work.So for kicks I copied the source from the cd and tried to just compile those...gcc refused saying I hadn't declared strcmp().:-/

Indeed, I did a 'gcc *' in the SOURCE/C dir and didn't end up with a single a.out file.They all gave errors either on strcmp, feof, fgets, fprintf, in, isspace, fclose, and numerous others.

Still an excellent book but things have changed a lot since it was written.

Hey Thomas!How 'bout a Second Edition?:-)

A very good book
I bought this book around 1998.It was the only book that cover
CGI and C, the rest talked about PERL which I hadnt learned yet.

Once the reader learns the basics (assuming they already know 1 of the 2 languages and have a webserver to play with), they should be able to construct any CGI program in almost any language.

CGI Programming in C & Perl
An EXCELLENT buy -- you don't have to be a "Pro" to use the programs here -- but you can't be a rookie either... Get it "New" or "Used"--the price difference is insignificant--compared to what's inside the book....I bought this book a few months ago--here on AMAZON--and was delighted to find this book contained entire (web)-C-programs that ACTUALLY WORKED! If your web-server(CGI-scripts) are runnning at a crawl...it's probably because you are running a "convenient-scripting-language" -- instead of a C-program!! This book is NOT long-winded, but very practical. I have seen (repackaged???-or-similar)-versions of this code running on a few of the "higher-profile" web-sites. Over the years, I have acquired a STACK of other C-Programming Books--and I am afraid to buy any more of them--because I am tired of EXPERIMENTING to see which ones are PRACTICAL to READ, and I'm tired of reading GOBS of POINTLESS-and/or-BLOATED text--I am very happy with this book. I am a self-taught (Linux) C Programmer, and the C-and-PERL-programs from this book run well on Linux(kernels 2.2 thru 2.4)... This book is a great start in getting you up and running--but the rest is up to you--since you'll REALLY NEED to UNDERSTAND MODERN WEB SERVERS !!!...and... ONE LAST NOTE-- this code may be considered "old" (written in 1996?) --it's NOT obsolete--but it still runs perfectly-and-flawlessly "as is" --on a modern-day Apache Web Server(Linux). This code has stood it's test of time.After you use these programs--it may become more obvious as to the "updates-additions-or-deletions" you'll want to make.Be sure to get Boutell's UPDATED CODE (from his web-site).

The Truth
With many years of experience under my belt, i found this book to be easy.I'd written many complex cgi scripts using perl and c previous to this book, for many fortune 500 companies.They are much more complex than the ones "Dennis Chang" clamis to have written.The conepts in the book are sound but a little outdated.One major complaint is that there aren't enough code examples to look at while you are reading along.The bottom line, its a easy book to read that teaches sound principles for programming cgi in c, but remember you pay for what you get.So i recommend getting a more advanced book for when you master this one. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (210)

Best Author on the Subject
I have read many (and I do mean many) software books (including all those on my way to my grad degree.)Jesse Liberty is one of the best.This was the first book I bought by him and he is on the top of my list of great writers in the technical field.I usually only write reviews if something is really good or really bad. This book is really good.I have read it cover to cover and refer to it often!It is the first book I grab when I have a C# question.If you need a great intro - reference, this is it.

Average
Average C# book; wastes too much time on how VB, C, C++ and Java used to be. Covers C3 2.0 and focuses on newcomers to the programming world. Would recommend to a first year college student who has never used a computer before.

Annoying mistakes.
Programming concepts are important in that they are the foundation for understanding implementation details when learning a language.

So when an author who is supposed to be an expert on the fundamentals of the language repeatedly reverses the meanings of "arguments" and "parameters" I find it annoying.That's just me, but this is basic basic stuff and it undermines his credibility in my mind.

'Parameters' define the data type of the value to be passed to a method/function.
'Arguments' are the value that is actually passed at runtime for a given parameter.

Don't believe me?
[...]

Good introduction to the language, more depth in ADO/ASP would be nice
Programming C# is a worthwhile book if you want to learn C#.If you are doing serious work with .NET, you will probably need other books as well, though those are big enough subjects that handling them in a separate book makes sense.

Part I, Chapters 1-12, provide a good introduction to C# as a language, especially if you have C++ or other programming language background.The text is easy to read and covers all the concepts clearly.Part II gives an introduction to writing applications with the .NET framework.The description is enough to write fairly simple, but non-trivial applications, but it does not cover some basic things, like how to add menus to your .NET windows application.I do not think this is a major drawback.Having a practical example to try what is taught in Part I is helpful, and it is enough to get started.

There may be more of these details in Part III, but I have not gotten that far yet.I bought the book to get up to speed on a project using ADO and ASP .NET.The language background has proved very useful.

Overall if you want to learn C# and get a taste of writing Windows apps, ADO (Microsoft's database API), and ASP .NET, I recommend this book.

Good, but Dull
Before I read this I had only the programming knowledge of Jesse's other book, C# 2005, as both were laying around the house from when my brother read them. I read only about 70 pages before I realized this book would be much better. I am on page 104 right now and I just can't make myself sit down and read it. I could always sit down and read other books with no problem (and not wanting to put them down.) This is not the case, however, with this book. The information is great, but the only time I can really stand to read it is at school when it is broken down into, say, 10 minute intervals throughout the day. This book is very long and it is taking forever to get through. I can sit down and read, but I get bored fast. It is 666 pages of small print and maybe if that print was more interesting, I would be good, but it reminds me of the way the adults talk in Charlie Brown. Wah wah wah wah wahhhhh. A lot of the beginning is, "Say you want to ________. You would __________ which is called ________. Here are a couple examples. This will be discussed in greater detail in chapter ___." I am looking at other books because of this.

"Boy, that was long." Yeah that was me rambling on. If you didn't bother reading that basically if you want good info, read it. If want to read this in a short amount of time or want to just sit down in learn a language in a matter of days, move on. ... Read more

Product Description
An introductory volume provides basic guidelines for generating and writing code, including thorough concept discussion, project assignments, and debugging exercises. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

A GREAT SELF-TEACHING GUIDE!!!
This is one excellent book to learn C programming. I purchased this book around 1994, because when I went back to college, programming was done in C instead of Fortran. I had learned Fortran at Purdue about a decade earlier. I had to either take a class in C, or learn on my own. I chose this book to learn on my own.

Greg's style was crisp and to the point. It was easy to read. BUT, more importantly, the book was chock full of assignments. This is great, because you don't really know that you've learned anything until you actually write code yourself. Also, the disk had answers to the questions. So you can test yourself.

Greg emphasized code style, white space and readability along with the basic C syntax. Because of this book, I've purchase other books by this author because I thought this one was so well written. I also own his Visual Basic in 12, Easy Lesson, Turbo C++ in 12 Easy Lessons and his Java book. I've been pleased with most of my books I've purchased by this author. His Java book didn't keep the style of programming assignments and end of chapter questions as his other books, so I didn't like that one as well.

ONE WARNING: Greg recommends different books to advance you knowledge. Most of the books he recommends were excellent for going on in C programming. He does at one point recommend a book titled "Assembly Language for Real Programmers Only" to learn assembly language. Though this book by Marcus Johnson is a great book, it's not a good entry level text. I did buy it. It's actually an advanced book that also double as a reference. So, you may want to get "Assembly Language Step by Step" to learn beginning assembly language programming.

Other than that, I would highly recommend this book for beginners to learn C.

AWESOME BEGINNERS BOOK FOR 'C' PROGRAMMING
Don't let nobody tell you different!I'm a Systems Engineer, not a programmer. This is the greatest 'intro to C' programming book of all time.
My version didn't have a CDROM it came with a floppy that I found to be fantastic. I've never depended on the FREE,GiveAway compiler that comes with any programming book. And I strongly recommend that nobody else should either.
Using the free 'cripple-ware' that comes with most programming books is a virtual guarantee of getting some indeterminate number of headaches, the magnitude of which, can be predicted.

NO THE AUTHOR DOESN'T DEAL HEAVILY WITH POINTERS, like some reviewers gripe about.But he covers them MUCH MORE THAN ADEQUATELY FOR AN"INTRO"BOOK.Detailed, in-depth coverage of pointers is simply, BEYOND THE SCOPE OF THIS BOOK's MISSION.

What makes this book so fantastic is that it is built in a great fashion from simple to more complex tasks that are RELEVANT,and that build on all of the previous knowledge.BUT, WHAT IS ABSOLUTELY KILLER,and nobody else seems to do this; is that there are a lot of programs given in the book
- AND RIGHT ON THE SAME PAGE, LINE-BY-LINE -
the author explains what each and every line of code is doing AND WHY.
Some of the other reviewers imply that this makes the book too simplistic; but for beginners, this is JUST AWESOME.

NO - IT's NOT THE RIGHT BOOK FOR ACCOMPLISHED PROGRAMMERS, BUT WHY WOULD THEY THINK THAT IT WOULD BE???

Didn't work for me
(My version came with a limited version of borland C++ 1.0 on floppy disk.) I guess this book worked for some beginners, but I found it extremely awful. When I picked up this book I had no programming experience what so ever (I never even used DOS). I wanted to learn C on my own though so I was determined to do it. I read each and every chapter about 3 or 4 times trying to learn all the concepts but it was really agonizing. One thing books like this should mention is a basic understanding of algebra being suggested, I'm sure that would have helped me. I will say however that once I did completed this book the C class I eventually took in college wasn't nearly as bad. At least it made me familiar with C and programming. If you've never done any programming what so ever buy something else is all I can say (I hear C for Dummies is good).

I got an "A"!
C in 12 easy lessons is THE BEST book on C programming for THE BEGINNER!Last summer i took a 5 week college crash course on C programming.Welp...the teacher gave me an "F" (the teacher sucked but that awhole other program) Plus the book he used to to teach the class was soooofreakin confusing it was pathetic! You know the type of books I'm talkingabout!The kind where the author has to feed his ego by trying to get thereader confused with BIGLONGCOMPUTERWORDSLIKETHIS rather than just speakingin English.Anyway, I re-took the class (with a different teacher thankgod!) and thanks to this book..i got an "A". This book isPEEEEERFECT for the beginner!When I took "C" the first time Ibought 3 different books on trying to understand pointers and functions tono avail BUT...this book did it!This book will TEACH you "C". But more important than that...the way this book is written, you willREMEMBER how to program in "C". I'm taking Visual C++ in thefall and low and behold...Mr. Perry has a "Visual C++ in 12 EasyLessons" book!What more could a "PC Progamming" Major askfor!Thanks Mr. Perry!

Excellent book for beginners
Good book for beginners. Even if have never touched a programming language before this can get started. The author has some DOS specific commands in his programming. So it limits you in that respect. If you can figure outwhere to take out the DOS stuff you can use it on any platform. ... Read more