C by Dissection: The Essentials of C Programming (The Benjamin/Cummings Series in Computer Science)

C by Dissection presents a thorough introduction to the programming process by carefully developing working programs to illuminate key features of the C programming language. This book presents the concepts of the programming process using the "dissection" method. Dissection is a unique tool first developed by the authors to point out key features of program code. It is similar to a structured walk-through of the code, with the intention of explaining newly encountered programming elements and idioms as found in working code. Each chapter presents a number of carefully explained programs, which lead the reader in a holistic manner to ever-improving programming skills. Right from the start, the reader is introduced to complete programs, and at an early point in the book is introduced to writing functions as a major feature of structured programming. This edition features expanded treatment of pointers, memory management, and recursion. It also takes into account the fact that many people are learning Java as a first language and then going to C, or vice-versa, and calls out those topics that present a challenge when making such transitions (e.g. i/o, data types). This book assumes no programming background and can be used by first-time computer users or by experienced programmers who are transitioning to C.

ANSI C used throughout.

Thoroughly tested code available via ftp and compatible with most C systems.

More extensive coverage of functions and pointers, which are typical stumbling blocks for the beginner.

Early coverage of multifile programs enables the programmer to write properly modular code and produce and use libraries.

Early explanation of simple recursion parallels its early introduction in beginning computer science courses.

Greater in-depth treatment of recursion reflects computer scientists' increasing use of C for implementing sophisticated algorithms.

Additional coverage of program correctness and type safety.

New section on two-dimensional arrays reflects the growing use of C by computer scientists and engineers.

New optional "Moving to C++" sections at the end of each chapter offer a preview of the C++ object-oriented extensions of C.