It's no secret: When it comes to learning a programming language, Larry Ullman is the man you want at your side! As the best-selling author of guides to PHP, MySQL, and more, he's proved that programming doesn't have to be painful, especially when it comes to a language that is at its core both simple and small. We're talking, of course, about C, and if you want to learn it fast (not to mention well), this book provides the key. Joined by co-author and fellow programmer Marc Liyanage, this author team tackles both programming fundamentals and the ABCs of C itself through a series of task-based lessons that use step-by-step instructions and a plethora of visual aids to make C if not instantly accessible, then almost. This book uses friendly, straightforward language to explain every aspect of this fundamental technology: from basic syntax and data types to working with numbers, characters, loops, and arrays; creating functions; using the C preprocessor; file input and output; and more.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - best introduction ever !!!
It is a wonderful Introduction to C!!!
I have seen many other books dealing with programming, but this is definitely the best.
Even for an almost absolute beginner like me this book presented a format, a style and a quality to get understand pretty easy. For PC and Mac users alike; and the given examples work - what in most books it is not the case!
I wish the authors would write a book about Objective - C in the same style!
Amazing that there so few books about programming ... Read More
Rating: - A bit of a disappointment
I own two other books by Larry Ullman and am nothing but pleased with them; however, this one was rather disappointing. The coverage is overly simplistic, shallow and lacks substance. The authors also "stroke out" in the pointers section --which is a bastion of C programming. I suppose it's "fine" as a dumbed-down introductory text, but for anyone with even a little programming background this book is useless or even laughable. Definitely not one of his better ones.
Rating: - Good book to start with!!
If you wanted to get up to speed with C without having to read thousands of pages in order to understand one concept then this book does a fantastic job. Good book to start on and i would recommend it to anyone!!
Rating: - Gentle introduction to C programming - Not a keeper though
The author did a fine job introducing key C programming concepts and illustrate them using simple well-explained code samples.
However, the book just doesn't cover enough depth and breadth about useful C topics for this book to be a keeper. I am not sure about the intended audience. Computer Science students should definitely get more serious books like C Primer to learn in-depth about the C programming language, whereas developers from other languages should get more advanced books like ... Read More
Rating: - Can't learn to program in C from this book
I love the Visual QuickStart Guides (of which this is one). Their format of text on one side, screenshots on the other side works well for most applications.
But it doesn't work well for programming languages.
The QuickStart approach is show-and-see. To learn a programming language, the approach has to be show-and-do.
The author could have supplied problem sets at the end of each chapter. He supplied no problem sets. Without problem sets, the book provides no opportunity ... Read More
- best introduction ever !!!
- A bit of a disappointment
- Gentle introduction to C programming - Not a keeper though
