Re: C help please - C newbie

On 18 Nov 2003 06:46:31 -0800, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ken Asbury)
wrote:

>> You'll find a lot of people here who disagree with you. 
>
>Yes, he will, but I'd bet that all of those are already 
>highly proficient in C or masochists, not that those are 
>mutually exclusive conditions.
I'd take that bet. The experts in comp.lang.c almost unanimously
recommend the book to newbies, and the newbies praise it as well.

>  After a 3-month brush with 
>K&R in 1983, I recently (well, in the last 8 years, recently) 
>made the transition from 25 years of asm to C.  Both times 
>I found K&R's approach to be fragmented and occasionally 
>obscure.  In addition, it contains now outdated forms and 
>style to add to a newbie's confusion.  
>
>My experience puts me firmly in Chris' camp on this.
>
It sounds like you never saw the second edition. Current editions
conform to the ISO90 standard (at the time of the first edition, there
was no standard.) Their approach is far from "fragmented" - the
exposition is logical and concise. The problem for many readers is
that they want a book of a thousand pages, where they can read 50
pages at a time before needing to think about what they've read. K&R
isn't like that. You have to pay attention.

I have no idea what you mean by "outdated forms."

As for style - style is not "dated." There are many "styles", good and
bad, in C programming, and K&R is one of the more popular.

I recommend that the OP review the archives of comp.lang.c, and if he
has more questions, ask there.

-- 
Al Balmer
Balmer Consulting
[EMAIL PROTECTED]