need review on "computer systems: a programmer's perspective" bybryant and o'hallaron

[pereges]

I need to learn C from the hardware perspective and some other details
like linkers, loaders, compilers etc. Basically stuff that the
standard won't cover but you are expected to know it if you want to
become better at programming. I have just bought this book and it is
full of examples in C. Can some one please let me know if this is a
good book to start with.

 

[rahul]

I need to learn C from the hardware perspective and some other details
like linkers, loaders, compilers etc. Basically stuff that the
standard won't cover but you are expected to know it if you want to
become better at programming. I have just bought this book and it is
full of examples in C. Can some one please let me know if this is a
good book to start with.

That looks like a decent book to me. Explanations showing assembly
listing along with the C code and various other descriptions at low
level are many a times necessary to understand the logic as well as
for optimization.
The book covers threads and network programming which are not a part
of standard C but extensively used.

If you are looking for standard C, everyone has got his/her favorite
book. "C programming : a modern approach" by K.N.King is advised by
many; so is "C : a reference manual". K&R (though it was written
before the standardization) is also a decent book and many have
learnt C programming from that book. I think having one of them along
with yours will be a good choice.

 

[pereges]

That looks like a decent book to me. Explanations showing assembly
listing along with the C code and various other descriptions at low
level are many a times necessary to understand the logic as well as
for optimization.
The book covers threads and network programming which are not a part
of standard C but extensively used.

If you are looking for standard C, everyone has got his/her favorite
book. "C programming : a modern approach" by K.N.King is advised by
many; so is "C : a reference manual". K&R (though it was written
before the standardization) is also a decent book and many have
learnt C programming from that book. I think having one of them along
with yours will be a good choice.

Hi, thanks for your review. Have you come across the knuth book ? Is
it going to be helpful in this regard ?

 

[rahul]

Hi, thanks for your review. Have you come across the knuth book ? Is
it going to be helpful in this regard ?

Go for Donald Knuth only if you have got good mathematical foundations
and a strong interest mathematical induction, combinatorics,
probability theory etc. "The Art of Computer Programming" spawns 4
volumes. The first half of the first volume is entirely mathematics
and in the second half, he introduces his fictios assembly language
and uses it to solve some fundamental problems. Its an excellent book
but very few people have actually read the whole book. Bill Gates has
commented about the book - "If you have read this whole book, you can
send me your resume".

 

[Nick Keighley]

Go for Donald Knuth only if you have got good mathematical foundations
and a strong interest   mathematical induction, combinatorics,
probability theory etc. "The Art of Computer Programming" spawns 4
volumes.

four?


<snip>

 

[rahul]

four?

<snip>

Ok..three..the fourth one never came out....but four fascicles has
been published....

 

[Bartc]

four?

I think 7 were planned but only 4 completed.

And I think the word was 'spans'.

 

[Richard Bos]

Ok..three..the fourth one never came out....but four fascicles has
been published....

If you look at Mr. Knuth's website, you'll find that the fourth volume
is going through the mills of being published, bit by bit, and I suspect
there'll be a hardcover version of the whole thing available before the
end of the year.

Richard