Practical C Programming: Why Does 2+2 = 5986? (Nutshell Handbooks) - Softcover

Book 6 of 9: Nutshell Handbooks

Oualline, Steve

  • 3.73 out of 5 stars
    253 ratings by Goodreads
 
9781565923065: Practical C Programming: Why Does 2+2 = 5986? (Nutshell Handbooks)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 1565923065 ISBN 13: 9781565923065
Publisher: O'Reilly Media, 1997

Synopsis

There are lots of introductory C books, but this is the first one that has the no-nonsense, practical approach that has made Nutshell Handbooks(R) famous. C programming is more than just getting the syntax right. Style and debugging also play a tremendous part in creating programs that run well and are easy to maintain. This book teaches you not only the mechanics of programming, but also describes how to create programs that are easy to read, debug, and update. Practical rules are stressed. For example, there are fifteen precedence rules in C (&& comes before || comes before ?:). The practical programmer reduces these to two:

  • Multiplication and division come before addition and subtraction.
Contrary to popular belief, most programmers do not spend most of their time creating code. Most of their time is spent modifying someone else's code. This books shows you how to avoid the all-too-common obfuscated uses of C (and also to recognize these uses when you encounter them in existing programs) and thereby to leave code that the programmer responsible for maintenance does not have to struggle with. Electronic Archaeology, the art of going through someone else's code, is described. This third edition introduces popular Integrated Development Environments on Windows systems, as well as UNIX programming utilities, and features a large statistics-generating program to pull together the concepts and features in the language.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

Steve Oualline lives in Southern California, where he works as a software engineer for a major phone company. In his free time he is a real engineer on the Poway Midland Railroad. Steve has written almost a dozen books on programming and Linux software. His web site is http://www.oualline.com .

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
O'Reilly Media
Publication date
1997
Language
English
ISBN 10 
1565923065
ISBN 13 
9781565923065
Binding
Paperback
Edition number
3
Number of pages
454
Rating
  • 3.73 out of 5 stars
    253 ratings by Goodreads

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9788173660306: Practical C Programming, 3rd Edition

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  8173660301 ISBN 13:  9788173660306
Publisher: Shroff/O'Reilly, 1997
Softcover