C Primer Plus

When I first wanted to learn C++, I pulled up a free online tutorial and worked my way through it. I got nothing out of it and only got as far as writing half a program afterwards. I bought this book wanting to give it another try and was not dissapointed at all. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to get a solid grasp of the language whether you have some or no programming experience. The author writes clearly and covers all the angles. There is a very short example on almost every page demonstrating the new concepts so you get a good idea of how to structure your code. Stephen Prata makes it look a lot easier than it is, but thats what the practice exercises are for at the end. The examples are so consistant (written with good structure) that it rubs off on you when you start writing your own code (which is the idea). I'm not in school, nor do I work with programmers so its vital to have clear, well written code to learn from. The practice exercises at the end of each chapter help you reinforce the material you've just learned so it sticks with you. The sequence of the material is laid out in a way that its easy to absorb and progress step by step. What I disliked the most about the book was that not all the practice exercices are answered in the downloadable document. It will list 2 or 3 out of 6 which I don't understand. I can work my way around almost any programming problem, but it can be sloppy and that can lead to bad habbits. Since hands-on is the best way of learning anything, I just don't understand why he didn't take the time to write out all the solutions so that after you solve it you can review where you made mistakes or how you can improve. This does not outweigh the good at all, I just thought it was odd. Also towards the end of the book, Chapters 15-17, you start seeing more and more typos. I'm surprised these simple mistakes didn't get ironed out in the editing (but again these do not draw away from the effectiveness of the book) If you want to learn C++, this is the book to get. The author not only goes over the technical syntax, but goes in depth about the general approach of Object Oriented Programming. C++ is a huge language and you cannot absorb it all from an online tutorial. With this book, you will not only learn how to write effective code, but you'll understand why its effective. I have a much better understanding of the OOP philosophy and thats extremely important because that can be applied to many other languages. And these philosophies are reiterrated again and again throughout the book to help you understand them. I also gained a better perspective on the differences between C and C++. If your like me, I don't want to just copy lines of code, I want to have a thorough understanding of the reasoning behind the code. If you are new to programming and want a solid foundation to start with (whether its C++ or another language your interested in) this is the book you should get.

I'm a freshman in college right now, and this book was required for my Intro to C class. Additionally, this is the first programming language (other than html, lol) I have ever studied. This book might scare you a little bit when you first pick it up; it's almost a thousand pages dedicated soley to learning a language that was first formally described in 1972. This language is old, and in some ways it shows. When you start studying an aspect of C such as pointers, you might wonder why something so low-level as memory addresses ever need to be understood. Thankfully, this book takes, in their own words, a "spiral" approach to learning the language. This book does not thoroughly go through each single aspect of C, one at a time. It does not thoroughly cover every method of input, then everything about arrays, then all about pointers, etc. Rather, the authors start by introducing you to a single, simple program and go on to describe what makes that program work. They might then cover a little bit about how to get input from the user, then move on for a chapter or two, and then return to input in more detail later. In general, the author will progress through the book by giving you a sample program, then explaining how and why it works. Wash, rinse, and repeat. This simple formula means that all of the practical methods introduced in the book are reinforced by useful and interesting theory. In this way, the authors have taken a massive and potentially overwhelming subject and turned it into something that you can play with. The authors start by giving you a basic toolset, and keep on giving you more tools at just the right time to keep you going. By the time you get to the tenth chapter (not to mention the twentieth), you'll have enough of an understanding of how C works to look at a complex program written by any professional programmer, and at least understand what the author of that program is trying to do. You may not understand all of the tools and methods that other programmer used, but at least you will not feel completely lost looking at someone else's code. All of the written examples in the book were tested on multiple machines with several (eleven?) different compilers, just to make sure that the programs given work as intended. I have found only two typographical errors in all my reading of the book, and both of those were noted on the publishers' website. This book is soundly fact-checked. What else to say? As a student who plans to make the most of their education (only one shot at it, haha), I couldn't be happier.

I am finding this to be a great resource to learn programming both in general and specific to the C language. However, if you are familiar with a scripting language such as python, have some background knowledge about how computers and programming works, or are just quick on the uptake, then I encourage to use this text as a secondary source. In anticipation of my Intro to C class in University, I bought the K&R C book and have found it immensely useful. However, K&R assumes that you already know some of the the finer points of programming. It is terse and to the point, which is one of its great advantages, but it can also seem dense if some minor detail of bitwise calculation or conditional statements eludes you. Whenever I have difficulty with K&R I turn to C Primer Plus. C Primer Plus can be counted on to have a lengthy and well written explanation. This faculty is invaluable whenever I am confused, but annoying when I get the picture and want to move on. Overall I find it to be a great complement to K&R and would encourage this book over K&R if a gun was pointed at your head (I understand this is a heresy). But the combination of both books is probably best for learning C quickly.

Great book for C++ novices. Maybe too much focuses on input output management. Not very interesting for intermediate c++ programmers.

Although the web site indicated the text book had slight markings, however, it was completely the opposite! The text book I received was a brand new text book - no markings whatsoever. That was unexpected. The delivery of the text book was within a couple of days - not 3 weeks that was posted on the site; so, that was a pleasant surprise. Overall, I am a very satisfied customer and will buy from Amazon.ca again.

Pour un livre sur un langage de programmation, il est clair. Je noterai toutefois que l'auteur se réferre souvent à d'autres langages comme le pascal, le DOS ou encore le C, l'ouvrage est peut-être plus adapté à des personnes ayant une expérience de la programmation. Il n'est toutefois pas nécessaire de connaître le langage C, l'auteur propose une formation au C++ de A à Z dans la philosophie du langage objet, il donne en plus les correspondances/différences avec le C. A book of programming very clear. The author refers to others languages so the book is more orientated for programmers and developers (not beginners). There is no need to know C language. The organization of the book is based on the object-oriented programming, the author makes some comparisons/differences between C and C++.

Good book, good value. It supplements my C++ collection, providing a deeper explanation of the language. I think there are easier "primers", but there again I would probably find a Sinclair Spectrum challenging these days :-(

I have never met better book about C-language. It suits for beginners as well for advanced programmers. I migrated form Fortran to C and did it with pleasure - thank you Mr. Prata! Now I start studying C++ and it was definitely clear for me what book to buy - of cause, from Mr.Prata! "C Primer Plus" is a great also as reference book - it is always on my table.