Advacnced C

[janus]

Hello All,

Sorry for adding noise to this group, however I am in need of an
Advanced C book. There was a time I accidently stumbled on one on the
web, it has five chapters with the last on writing web server. Could
someone give me the pointer or link to it? And I won't mind other
books.

Regards,
Janus

 

[Antoninus Twink]

Sorry for adding noise to this group,

I wouldn't worry about that.

The signal-to-noise ratio in this group is already abysmal, thanks to
the "topicality" zealots.

however I am in need of an Advanced C book. There was a time I
accidently stumbled on one on the web, it has five chapters with the
last on writing web server. Could someone give me the pointer or link
to it? And I won't mind other books.

I expect Richard Heath Field, who has a history of spamming this group
with advertisements for his book, will be along soon to recommend it.
I'd avoid it - it contains elementary mistakes, and has shown himself to
be too proud to accept error reports.

Really, it depends what you're after. Once you've learned the basics of
C, there are a whole lot of different directions you can pursue - with C
in your pocket, the world is your oyster.

By far and away the most important thing to learn if you're going to do
serious programming is some standard basic algorithms and data
structures. Besides Knuth (which many people don't find easy to
read...), there is Corman, Rivest et al's book, which is exceptionally
clear and has quite a lot of stuff in it. It's all pseudocode, so it
would be an additional challenge to work out for yourself how to go
about implementing things in C: if you want to create a binary tree, how
should you deal with allocating the nodes? That sort of thing.

Another good book on algorithms but with more help on implementation
details is "Algorithms in C" by Sedgwick.

Alternatively, you may be interesting in using C to write a
sophisticated application that uses IPC or threading or networking or
the like. In that case, "Unix systems programming" by Robbins and
Robbins is a very good general introduction. For more hardcore
networking, there are some thick tomes by Stevens that are standard -
you mention writing a webserver, so that might be what you need.

Maybe you want to write GUI apps: in that case, you need to pick a
toolkit you like, which will probably be GTK if you're coding in C. I
don't know a good book to recommend, but there's excellent tutorial and
reference information accessible online from GTK's website.

Or you might be interested in applying C to lower-level programming at
the kernel level. "Understanding the Linux Kernel" by someone I can't
remember and "Essential Linux Device Drivers" by Venteswaran are both
readable.

Really, the possibilities are endless, and if you say what sort of thing
you're particularly interested in then people will surely have lots of
good suggestions to make.

 

[Nick Keighley]

On  2 Dec 2009 at  7:55, janus wrote:

I wouldn't worry about that.

quite right!

The signal-to-noise ratio in this group is already abysmal, thanks to
the "topicality" zealots.

and the people who keep arguing about it...


I think you'd need to define what you by "Advanced C book". Do you
want to know more about the C language (you can't really beat K&R) or
programming in some particular domain (eg. web servers or graphics) or
some platform (Windows or Unix)?

I expect Richard Heath Field,

that's HeathField

who has a history of spamming this group
with advertisements for his book,

this is not true

will be along soon to recommend it.
I'd avoid it - it contains elementary mistakes, and has shown himself to
be too proud to accept error reports.

not true either. The book is pretty good and covers a wide variety of
C applications. OTOH tt is rather large and I think out of print. [I
have no financial interest in the book]

After this Twink settles down and gives some pretty good advice.

 

[Walter Banks]

Hello All,

Sorry for adding noise to this group, however I am in need of an
Advanced C book. There was a time I accidently stumbled on one on the
web, it has five chapters with the last on writing web server. Could
someone give me the pointer or link to it? And I won't mind other
books.

One of the books with the most wear on my shelves is
"C a Reference Manual" by Harbison and Steele currently in
fifth edition. I have earlier editions that the pages are warn
and falling out


"C a Reference Manual"
Harbison and Steele
(c) 2002 Prentice Hall
ISBN 0-13-089592-X

This is a very readable text written by knowledgeable authors
that care about the material and should be encouraged .

ll the best of the season,


Walter..

 

[Walter Banks]

The support website for "C a Reference Manual" with
errata and book description is

http://www.careferencemanual.com/

Walter..

 

[Nick Keighley]

janus wrote:

this qualifies as signal!

One of the books with the most wear on my shelves is
"C a Reference Manual"  by Harbison and Steele currently in
fifth edition. I have earlier editions that the pages are warn
and falling out

"C a Reference Manual"
Harbison and Steele
(c) 2002 Prentice Hall
ISBN 0-13-089592-X

This is a very readable text written by knowledgeable authors
that care about the material and should be encouraged .

ah yes. My old H&S was better for the library than K&R (IMO). I
believe the new H&S covers C99 which K&R doesn't.

I wouldn't classify it as an "advanced" book though- whatever one of
those is!

 

[Antoninus Twink]

Nick Keighley wrote:
Actually it's "Heathfield" - but he's been told many times, and he
still can't get it right. What did you expect?

I will spell your name however I like if I feel it adds emphasis to what
I'm saying.

If you believe you deserve to have your named spelled correctly as a
mark of respect, then you might like to think about doing something to
start earning that respect.

In fact, it's a lie.

Wrong.

It is 100% true. Han from China dug out the quotes. Of course, you
ignored this inconvenient evidence.

In exactly the same way, when I posted a direct example of you
introducing the bible into a recent thread to refute your claim that you
don't bring religion into clc, the silence was deafening.

On the one side, there is concrete evidence - your own words in your own
posts.

On the other side, there is nothing but mud slinging and accusations of
lies.

I have almost never mentioned it

"Almost". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Avoid_weasel_words

in a thread where someone else did not mention it first

Exceptions, qualifications. Weasel words.

and, very often, when I have mentioned it,

Self-justification. Weasel words.

You're on the hook and you know it. There's no way to wriggle off,
Heathfield.

It is certainly true, however, that I pay very little attention to
idiots. And it is possible that an idiot, despite his idiocy, might
spot a genuine error that has not been spotted previously by others.

There are many words you could use to describe Han. "Idiot" is not one
of them.

Besides, other people read and confirmed the errors Han found. You still
ignored them, because of their original source.

In my book, that is intellectual dishonesty of the highest order.

I have two choices - read everything posted by every idiot, or run the
(very low) risk of missing an error report.

Given that you read everything posted by spinoza, that argument hardly
carries much force, does it?

I think the risk is worth running.

Of course you do. But then you're breathtakingly arrogant and care more
about pursuing personal vendettas than you do about technical
correctness, for all your ostentatious displays of pedantry.

I don't think size is necessarily a disadvantage.

Indeed. The bigger it is, the longer it keeps you warm when it's used as
fuel.

 

[Antoninus Twink]

No such person, Twinky.

Are you mad? Check out
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.c/msg/c29809cd75412536

Here's the relevant part. Let's see if Heathfield will address the
evidence this time round - but fair-minded readers will quickly make up
their minds for themselves about who exactly is the liar here.


=== begin HfC ===

I've found *some* quotes (I have no idea how complete this list is) as
evidence for my assertions. I realize Heathfield has denied the plugs in
this thread, and to be fair, we shouldn't call that lying, since these
posts were from many years ago, and nobody can be expected to remember
all the details of what he posted to a newsgroup many years ago. The
Heathfield from that time was actually a pretty likeable fellow.

Richard Heathfield
Oh dear. I can't exactly give you the Amazon link because it would be
/too/ much like spam. Suffice to say that I just checked Amazon and it
is indeed there. If you do a search for "Richard Heathfield" it finds
it
straight away. If you search using "C Unleashed" it's about five or
six
books down on the list.

Richard Heathfield:
I am reluctant to describe it in more detail here in case I lay myself
open to the accusation of posting commercial material.* You can find a
chapter list and author list at the URL I gave in my earlier reply.
That
should give you some idea of the contents and the quality (you'll
recognise almost a dozen of the names, I suspect).

[*Straw poll - do people here really object if my attempts to provide
objective information about the book accidentally sound like "buy this
book now", or am I being needlessly shy?]

Here's a "humorous smiley one" one that involves you, Mr. Bos:

> If it remains at the level it has been up to now, you're being
> needlessly shy. I would object if they did sound like "buy this",
> but
> IMO, they haven't, yet. OTOH, maybe that's because IMO I need to get
> around to buying the thing already.

buy this



--
Richard Heathfield
"Usenet is a strange place." - Dennis M Ritchie, 29 July 1999.
C FAQ: http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html
K&R Answers: http://users.powernet.co.uk/eton/kandr2/index.html

Richard Heathfield:
As for the C book: presuming you've already got K&R, H&S, and CPFAQs,
I
recommend that you grab a copy of... um... rats, I had exactly the
book
for you and I've gone and forgotten the title. Sorry.



Just for fun, here's Nick Keighley, *after having posted to comp.lang.c
for roughly a year*, lending himself to marketing:

I keep hearing about a book "C Unleashed" and I believe some of the
regulars contributed to it. Is it available online, as I don't want
to pay for it?

Hope this doesn't cause offence to anyone.

And that again let Heathfield rattle on about his book in multiple
posts.

Here's a *direct* plug from yet another thread:

Richard Heathfield:
And, if I might add one to the list?

C Unleashed, by Richard Heathfield, Lawrence Kirby, and (many!)
others,
including a few other comp.lang.c regulars; Sams (Macmillan Computer
Publishing), 2000. ISBN 0-672-31896-2

Not a bad book, as it turns out, (although you should be most
suspicious
of any chapters written by that Heathfield character). But not a book
for beginners.

followed by coyness and the obligatory apology:

Richard Heathfield:
<grimace> Well, I was under the impression that it was already on sale
(in the USA). This doesn't seem to be backed up by anecdotal evidence
(such as, for example, an actual purchase!). Macmillan have provided
me
with a wide range of dates, the latest of which was 18th August (i.e.
last week), and this time they sounded kinda convinced.

All I can tell you for /sure/ is that I do know that at least one
paper
copy of the book exists, because it's sitting on my desk right now.

I think this is drifting off-topic now, so if you want any more info,
I
suggest that comp.lang.c might prefer it if we take the discussion to
email.

For some odd reason, there were plenty of bizarre plug openings from
strangers to the newsgroup around 2000-2001. Here's an amusing one from
someone calling himself "Peetah_junkmail":

Hi,

i tried to contact Richard Heathfield, one of the authors of C
unleashed,
through the mail provided on the web site of the book
(http://users.powernet.co.uk/eton/unleashed/), but I've been granted
with
an unexisting username from the mail server.
As this book has its origin in this group, I'm trying here .
I have bought this big book one year ago, but it's really not
compatible
with the advantage of working with a lapop. Therefore I would like to
know
if there is a way to get a pdf version, given that I am able to
provide a
proof of purchase.

Again sorry for being off topic, but as I don't want to leech on P2P
networks for illegal copies, this place is my last chance.

Thanks

Peetah

Here's another amusing opening from some fellow named "Carlo":

I really like the book "C unleashed", but it's too heavy. If it will
publish
in "light-weighted-paper" version, I will buy it.

Carlo

The flurry of bizarre questions about the book was an odd phenomenon for
a
newsgroup. Certainly I haven't witnessed anything similar on the Perl,
Python, C++, Java, or PHP newsgroups when regular contributors write a
book or a new edition of a previous book. But I see no conclusive
evidence
of a marketing stunt, and the posters appear to have had a history on
Usenet before asking for information.

=== end of HfC ===

 

[Antoninus Twink]

Zzzzzz zzzzz ... <yawn>

If you find the evidence of Heathfield's long history of deceit and
underhand behavior in this group so tedious, why did you ask about it in
the first place?

But of course you're right - the utter monotony with which we read
Heathfield plugging his book time after time after time might easily
send you to sleep if it failed to produce the anger and frustration that
it should do, when he then comes along and says: "In fact, it's a lie. I
have almost never mentioned it".

There is only one liar here.

 

[janus]

Thank you all. However, what I wanted is a book(s) that would enable
me to have pointer/pointer function in my pocket and also support me
in my drive to writing games. Basically, I would like to have a clear
understanding of C.

Janus

 

[Squeamizh]

You make an assertion that flies in the face of reality here.

Zzzzzz zzzzz ... <yawn>

Wake us up when you have something interesting to say, Twinky.

....and then you dismiss the refutation to your claim because it isn't
"interesting" enough. God damn, you're dumb.

 

[Seebs]

I think you'd need to define what you by "Advanced C book". Do you
want to know more about the C language (you can't really beat K&R)

I actually think that King's _C Programming: A Modern Approach_ qualifies
as beating K&R these days. Larger, more in-depth, and covers C99 features.
(But distinguishes them, which I think is a win.)

-s

 

[Seebs]

Thank you all. However, what I wanted is a book(s) that would enable
me to have pointer/pointer function in my pocket and also support me
in my drive to writing games. Basically, I would like to have a clear
understanding of C.

http://knking.com/books/c/

Disclaimer: I did tech review for it. However, I don't get royalties, so
I still don't have a financial interest in the book.

-s

 

[Seebs]

You make an assertion that flies in the face of reality here.

Not demonstrably. No one has shown that such a person exists, as opposed
to a sock.

...and then you dismiss the refutation to your claim because it isn't
"interesting" enough. God damn, you're dumb.

Actually, I think he's pretty much nailed it -- the babblings of our local
community of trolls (at least some of whom are almost certainly socks, though
it's hard to say for sure which ones) are pretty much a waste of time.

*plonk*

-s

 

[Antoninus Twink]

Why did I ask about what, O soppy one?

Do you have a screw loose or something? You show every sign of being in
a world of your own.

 

[Keith Thompson]

On 03/12/2009 19:54, Antoninus Twink wrote: [SNIP]
Why did I ask about what, O soppy one?

Please stop feeding the trolls.

 

[Antoninus Twink]

"As I recall", all I've asked about is who the f*** Han from China is
supposed to be. Some fathead suggested googling for him, all I got was
pages about the Han dynasty or some such.

<http://groups.google.com/groups/sea...ugroup=comp.lang.c&as_uauthors=han+from+china>

It's not rocket science.

 

[Eric Sosman]

"As I recall", all I've asked about is who the f*** Han from China is
supposed to be. Some fathead suggested googling for him, all I got was
pages about the Han dynasty or some such. But d'ye think I really care?

However, feel free to continue to work yourself up into a froth, it's
quite amusing.

You seem easily amused by repetition.

 

[Kenny McCormack]

...and then you dismiss the refutation to your claim because it isn't
"interesting" enough. God damn, you're dumb.

Keep it coming, Sock, you're providing me with a chuckle.[/QUOTE]

And vice versa.

And note that the best part of this little teleplay is when skipper Kiki
or little buddy first mate default loser Bwian comes along and inveighs
you not to "feed the trools". I see that this has already happened. It
may happen again.

 

[Nick Keighley]

Just for fun, here's Nick Keighley, *after having posted to comp.lang.c
for roughly a year*,

what was the date? I'm sure I'd been posting to clc for quite a while
before Unleashed came out (though memory may fail me)

lending himself to marketing:

  I keep hearing about a book "C Unleashed" and I believe some of the
  regulars contributed to it. Is it available online, as I don't want
  to pay for it?

  Hope this doesn't cause offence to anyone.

that *sounds* like i was being tongue in cheek. I don't believe in
stealing intellectual property.

<snip>