C Programming Absolute Beginner's Guide

TL;DR- This book is amazing and is perfect for anyone who has no experience, or does and wants to learn a new language. As i was trying to learn C as my first program, I thought it was going to be very hard because I've heard online that C is the not the ideal choice for getting started in programming as there are easier options like Python. But this book made learning C very easy, and had perfect explanations and examples. The way the authors relay the information is not hard to understand if you have absolutely no programming experience. The coding examples they have you copy from the book into an IDE are great ALTHOUGH I do wish that they gave some problems that we are supposed to try on our own so that all of the coding done through the book wasn't copied from it.. One of the problems with this book is the ending- because it kind of just leaves you with no idea of what to do next, and how to keep furthering your knowledge of C... After I read this book I had no idea what to do next and had a hard time trying to find resources for "intermediate" C. Still, I would recommend this book to anyone who has no programming experience at all and would like to learn C as their first language.This book is also good for people who have prior programming experience and want to learn C, although you will have to read through what is an int, str, etc..

Wow, I am blown away at how well written this book is, it’s like the Author is reading my mind and then magically provides the answer to my question. It covers the basics and builds up , basic stuff I had forgotten and basic stuff I never knew bug should have , then builds up logically and smoothly. The only gripe I have is with the printing of the book , the “tips” are printed in a very faint typeface and it’s impossible for me to read unless I have light and reading glasses ( the main text doesn’t require this for me ). Yes there are a few errors in the book and the online Errata only lists one piece of code , however, the errors turn out to actually be good for prompting some analysis I’ve got a stack of C books and this one is my favourite The publisher support is beyond terrible but then again I just bought a book and there aren’t many good publishers anyway

I plan on updating this review as I go. This book was specifically recommended for those less familiar with programming for a class I'm taking. The introductory information, vernacular, tips, and warnings are very helpful. However, for someone with absolutely no programming experience (but) with otherwise fair computer skills, this book left me pestering my programmer friends for guidance by the 2ND CHAPTER. I used the C compiler recommended by the book, as it only recommends one by name noting it's the one the book will be referencing. It notes there are hundreds of free compilers out there, but I want to follow the book in hopes of grasping the information better. Fine. And I get that some features are going to be different with updates, but I wasn't able to even start putting in code for practice because the book fails to explain how to go about creating a new project in code blocks. I looked under the (new) project option which had a dozen different types of project models. None of which is mentioned. Then I went to file, which lead me to believe I had to have pre-installed .c files on my computer. Instead, I'm creating the name of my project here. The book fails to elucidate how to go about starting a new project. Again, this is a book for beginners with no experience whatsoever necessary. That means you have to spell things out step-by-step. **** Update After reviewing the material, I find the author's style of the aforementioned setting up and using the c-compiler to simply be a matter of poor layering or structuring on his part. In this case, he put the cart before the horse, detailing what I needed to know after showing and suggesting I test out the code on the page before me. I think I will be better off reading this after my coursework is up to date, and only sticking with my coursework compiler, as the code blocks is still a little confusing to me. While this book will certainly be more helpful down the line, he almost needs to postpone the user getting onto code blocks or another c compiler a few chapters later, after they've become familiar with a few aspects and rules of the language. Further Update: Ultimately, setting aside setting up the code blocks compiler, the information the author provides in this book is extremely helpful. I'm still rather green (new) around the edges but I'm finding the examples very helpful. Knowing what I do, I would have skipped the 2nd chapter on set up and moved forward with learning the basic principles and rules of programming before trying to build anything on code blocks.

So a disclaimer. If you ever want to learn something or research something, go old school and buy the book. I love my kindle and use it frequently. For novels. Otherwise I like a physical book I can leaf through the pages with. This book probably needs to be read physically. The larger pages have more real estate, and it is easier to grab information that way. Anyway, the book is excellent. It really is a step by step approach building a solid foundation of C, and you don't need prior programming experience. Take your time. Make sure you do it consistently, however. Like foreign languages, coding needs to be practiced daily for it to sink it. If you do it once a week, or even every few days, it likely will be not enough for you to really burn the language into your head. You have to be consistent and frequent with your practice. If you are, this book is top notch for learning. The only downside is that there are quite a few little errors in the sample code. If you are careful, it is good. You copy down a program, it doesn't work, and then you need to spend the time and effort to track through everything to find the "gotcha". That is probably great for practicing and learning C. At the same time, it is a little less than professional because it wasn't done on purpose. Despite that little downside, I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn C. Cheers!

In comparison to other books, this book is easy to understand, the content is organised ie from easy to hard, touch all the aspects and doesn't confuse. Easily take you to the next level.

Great start for learning C. There could be some adjustments made, like a better overview, a better higlighting of exemptions; espec. at the beginning. Also, maybe a bit less text, therefore more code examples, maybe even a few exercises. But overall, a great book!

Brand new condition

This book is structured better than most other programming books I've approached. It teaches you enough to wwrite simple programs then adds complexity and explains what you've been doing the whole time without realizing it. You get to the section on functions for example and it explains how they work in terms of printf() which is the first thing you learned. This shows the logical side of C instead of the complex side. Admittedly it won't make you a pro, but it doesn't make the language seem trivial either.

I bought this book to better understand C language for programs I am creating for the Arduino. This book was absolutely brilliant, it helped teach me the basics of C as well as how to structure it. It doesn't teach you everything, (as that would be impossible!) but it will give you a good base knowledge. It has really helped when I have been looking at other peoples code for Arduino online and understanding what they are doing. Just an FYI - there are some differences between C and C for Arduino, so i would also recommend getting the beginners guide to Arduino as well (if thats what you are going to use). Would highly recommend this book to anyone.