Bookpool: The C Programming Language, 2nd Edition

This book is meant to help the reader learn how to program in C. It is the definitive reference guide, now in a second edition. Although the first edition was written in 1978, it continues to be a worldwide best-seller. This second edition brings the classic original up to date to include the ANSI standard.

From the Preface:

We have tried to retain the brevity of the first edition. C is not a big language, and it is not well served by a big book. We have improved the exposition of critical features, such as pointers, that are central to C programming. We have refined the original examples, and have added new examples in several chapters. For instance, the treatment of complicated declarations is augmented by programs that convert declarations into words and vice versa. As before, all examples have been tested directly from the text, which is in machine-readable form.

As we said in the first preface to the first edition, C "wears well as one's experience with it grows." With a decade more experience, we still feel that way. We hope that this book will help you to learn C and use it well.

1. A Tutorial Introduction.

2. Types, Operators, and Expressions.

3. Control Flow.

4. Functions and Program Structure.

5. Pointers and Arrays.

6. Structures.

7. Input and Output.

8. The UNIX System Interface.

Appendix A.

Appendix B.

Appendix C.

Index.

Brian W. Kernighan works in the Computing Science Research Center at Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies. He is Consulting Editor for Addison-Wesley's Professional Computing Series and the author, with Dennis Ritchie, of The C Programming Language.

Apr 9, 2005 Mick from Madison, Wisconsin, USA
The Best C Book Available
I have read this entire book twice. Some of the later sections are still difficult for me to understand, however, if I am able to learn more with each reading, then the topics will eventually all become clear.

I gave it 5 stars simply because I have found it to be the best introduction to ANSI//ISO C. I have attempted to learn from more introductory texts, but they simply were not as clear in their writing style, or presentation order of the concepts.

Overall, it is fairly enjoyable to read and easy to understand. Their exercises can be fun if you want to challenge yourself.

The only problems I had with the book were that it was not updated for ISO C99 and that there wasn't a clever quote at the beginning of each chapter. :)

If you know some programming already and want to learn C, there is no other book for you. If you know C and want to know it better, still get this. If you have read this book previously, then let me recommend "Expert C Programming: Deep C Secrets" by Peter van der Linden.

Mar 12, 2005
The C Bible
Read it. Learn it. Breathe it. It does not have the strongest presentation. It requires some patience and skill. I would not recommend non-programmer to pick it up and think they will understand it or learn C. If you've programmed in any language then you should be able to make your way through the book.

Dec 12, 2002 Roberto Carvajal (rcarvajal@loko.cl) from Via del Mar, Chile.
Great for a first time C programmer
One year ago (I was at school) one of my computer lab teachers gave me this book, I wanted to learn C but I didn't have the time because I was too busy with school and learning PHP and MySQL at my own.

Today I have medium/advanced skills on that (PHP & MySQL) and a few days ago I started reading this great book!!, it's easy to understand (even if you don't have skills on programming) and best of all it's there is a new challenge in every chapter, the authors shows you examples and tells you to write a better version or a different one or just to find a better way to do the same thing. I think this book have a great way to teach you and keep you motivated from start to finish. I'm really enjoying reading this book.

Oct 9, 2002 Al Balmer (albalmer@att.net) from Arizona, USA
Great authors, lousy publisher
This book is the classic and every C programmer should have it. However, the current printing is done on cheap paper (newsprint?) which makes the book twice as thick and the ink bleed makes the text fuzzy and hard to read. Try to find an older printing.

Jul 9, 1999 Dr Mike Mian from England
The definitive C programmers book
Often refered to simply as K&R, this book is the standard by which other technical books are judged. Written by the authors of the language, it is one of those rare books that combines brevity with clarity. It is a combination of an excellent tutorial book and a clear reference manual, and it also has a very useful index. This book has it all!

I refer to this book all the time and so does every professional C programmer I know. It's worth every penny.

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