[H-GEN] C programming idioms

Greg Black gjb at gbch.net
Fri Feb 16 19:21:34 EST 2007


On 2007-02-16, bjf at bjf.id.au wrote:

> My question to the collective consciousness is, what resources do the  
> professional C developers here use as tutorials and references to get  
> this more advanced knowledge that you typically don't find in the  
> "Teach Yourself C for Dummies in 24 Hours" kind of books?

I don't think professional C developers need tutorials and tips about
idioms and good practice; however, I can provide some useful resources:

  1. The comp.lang.c Frequently Asked Questions (which you should read
     in full several times until it is embedded in your brain)

     http://c-faq.com/

     Note that it answers the original question and should be the first
     port of call for all questions about C.

  2. The C Programming Language, 2nd ed., 1988, Kernighan & Ritchie

  3. The Practice of Programming, 1999, Kernighan & Pike

  4. The Elements of Programming Style, 2nd ed., 1978, Kernighan &
     Plauger

Wow, I must be a fan of Brian Kernighan.  Note that (4) uses Fortran and
PL/I for its examples, but they are perfectly useful for programmers of
all kinds and don't require great skills in the target languages.

When you're completely on top of all that, let me know and I can make
some further suggestions.

Cheers, Greg




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