Effective C: An Introduction to Professional C Programming

Effective C, 2nd edition, is an introduction to essential C language programming that will soon have you writing programs, solving problems, and building working systems.

The latest release of the C programming language, C23, enhances the safety, security, and usability of the language. This second edition of Effective C has been thoroughly updated to cover C23, offering a modern introduction to C that will teach you best practices for writing professional, effective, and secure programs that solve real-world problems.

Effective C is a true product of the C community. Robert C. Seacord, a long-standing member of the C standards committee with over 40 years of programming experience, developed the book in collaboration with other C experts, such as Clang’s lead maintainer Aaron Ballman and C project editor JeanHeyd Meneide. Thanks to the efforts of this expert group, you’ll learn how to:

• Develop professional C code that is fast, robust, and secure
• Use objects, functions, and types effectively
• Safely and correctly use integers and floating-point types
• Manage dynamic memory allocation 
• Use strings and character types efficiently
• Perform I/O operations using C standard streams and POSIX file descriptors 
• Make effective use of C’s preprocessor
• Debug, test, and analyze C programs 

The world runs on code written in C. Effective C will show you how to get the most out of the language and build robust programs that stand the test of time.

New to this edition: This edition has been extensively rewritten to align with modern C23 programming practices and leverage the latest C23 features.

Updated to cover C23

Robert C. Seacord, a world-renowned C programmer and educator, is the convenor of the C standards committee. Seacord’s industry experience includes roles at IBM, the X Consortium, and currently Woven by Toyota. He was a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute and professor at the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science, the Information Networking Institute, and the University of Pittsburgh. His previous books include The CERT® C Coding Standard and Secure Coding in C and C++.