Re: C help please - C newbie

On Tue, 18 Nov 2003 21:33:50 +0000, Chris Hills <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:

>In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Alan Balmer
><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes
>>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
>
>No we don't.
>
Oh? Do you really feel that you speak for everyone on comp.lang.c? In
fact, you are not even a particularly regular or prolific contributor
there. I will repeat my recommendation to the OP: Do a google search
for book recommendations there.

>>It sounds like you never saw the second edition. 
>I have it. (and many other books on C.
>
>>Current editions
>>conform to the ISO90 standard 
>But not C90 + the TC's and A1 which is what  most compilers use as a
>baseline.
>
And how much of the TC's and A1 are really relevant to someone
learning C? As I said, K&R2 is not a complete reference book - there
are others more complete and more up to date, but the best ones are
not suitable as a tutorial, imo.

>>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.
>
>No, it's not. It was at one time but not now.

Bull. Look around you. What are the most popular 5 coding styles, in
you opinion? Descriptions will do - few actually have an accepted
name.
>
>>I recommend that the OP review the archives of comp.lang.c, and if he
>>has more questions, ask there.
>
>I will tell him the same thing there and on comp.std.c, or the ISO
>working group reflector.... (as a National C Panel Convenor I am on the
>ISO C reflector as well)

Wow! I'm impressed!
>
>MAny people like K&R bit it is 15 years old and several standards out of
>date. It is also not written for embedded C... when did you last have
>stderr on a micro?
>
No long ago, actually. But I don't know what that has to do with
learning C. What's your recommendation for a beginner's C language
tutorial written for embedded C? Also, how do you reconcile your
insistence that tutorials be up to the current standard with a book
written for non-hosted implementations, where most bets are off, as
far as the standard is concerned?

My recommendation is to get a firm grounding in standard C and good
coding practices, then worry about specialized implementations for
particular embedded implementations.

-- 
Al Balmer
Balmer Consulting
[EMAIL PROTECTED]