K&R Wishlist

[Ben Pfaff]

Re: K&R Wishlist

"Fao, Sean" <enceladus311@y ahoo.comI-WANT-NO-SPAM> writes:
[color=blue]
> Is somebody just hoping to get a K&R 3rd edition or is there *real* talk
> about releasing an updated version of the text?[/color]

K or R (don't recall who) was asked about it some time ago and
said there were no plans for a 3rd edition.
--
Peter Seebach on C99:
"[F]or the most part, features were added, not removed. This sounds
great until you try to carry a full-sized printout of the standard
around for a day."

[Fao, Sean]

Re: [OT] K&amp;R Wishlist

storm.kbot@gmai l.com wrote:[color=blue]
> newby2c wrote:
>[color=green]
>>My personal K&R (3rd edition) wish list:
>> 7. Make an appendix with the full ascii table.[/color]
>
>
> If you are using an UNIX style OS (like Linux), you can use the
> command:
> $ man ascii
> It's a much better way than having to search into the book.
>
> PS: The only time I saw a ASCII table in a C book it's was into the
> infamous "C: for Dummies".[/color]

C For Dummies? Talk about an oxymoron.

I've glanced over only a single "for Dummies" book and it was probably
the worst book I ever wasted my time on. That along with the "Learn
[enter something here] in 24 Hours" books have always been worthless.

--
Sean

[Skarmander]

Re: [OT] K&amp;R Wishlist

Fao, Sean wrote:[color=blue]
> storm.kbot@gmai l.com wrote:
>[color=green]
>>newby2c wrote:
>>
>>[color=darkred]
>>>My personal K&R (3rd edition) wish list:
>>>7. Make an appendix with the full ascii table.[/color]
>>
>>
>>If you are using an UNIX style OS (like Linux), you can use the
>>command:
>> $ man ascii
>>It's a much better way than having to search into the book.
>>
>>PS: The only time I saw a ASCII table in a C book it's was into the
>>infamous "C: for Dummies".[/color]
>
>
> C For Dummies? Talk about an oxymoron.
>[/color]
<snip>

- Google offers a big library of ready-made C code. Use it to your
advantage.

- Should Google fail, try any book with a title ending on "in C".
Chances are, what you want to do is in one of them.

- If all else fails and you need to write a program yourself, don't
panic. Start from something that vaguely resembles the problem you're
trying to tackle and begin modifying it at random.

- If you get a warning or error that involves the word "pointer", look
at the offending line and add or remove * and & characters until the
error goes away.

- If you're really stumped on something, use Usenet (see "Usenet for
Dummies") and ask a question on comp.lang.c. The friendly folks there
stand at your attention to answer any question that involves C. You may
get a lot of responses that don't directly answer your question; just
ignore these.

S.

[Keith Thompson]

Re: [OT] K&amp;R Wishlist

Skarmander <invalid@dontma ilme.com> writes:
[...][color=blue]
> - If you get a warning or error that involves the word "pointer", look
> at the offending line and add or remove * and & characters until the
> error goes away.[/color]

I'm not sure that's very good advice. It's better to study the error
message and the code it refers to until you *understand* why the
compiler complained, and how to write the code correctly.

The "add or remove stuff until the error goes away" technique is what
leads to things like extraneous casts that mask real errors. In the
case of pointers, you can easily end up using the address of an array
where you really need the address of its first element; if you're
passing it to printf(), you might not even get a warning from your
compiler.

To understand pointers:

1. Read a good tutorial book on C. K&R2 is one of the best.

2. Read the FAQ, sections 4 (Pointer), 5 (Null Pointers), and 6
(Arrays and Pointers). (And read the rest of the FAQ while you're
at it.)

If you don't understand what the FAQ is telling you, it's probably a
sign that you need to go back to your tutorial. If you do understand
everything the FAQ says, you've probably got a pretty good
understanding of the language. (Remember that the FAQ is not a good
starting point; it's designed to clear up misconceptions that you
might acquire while learning the language, not to teach the language
from scratch.)
[color=blue]
> - If you're really stumped on something, use Usenet (see "Usenet for
> Dummies") and ask a question on comp.lang.c. The friendly folks therenn
> stand at your attention to answer any question that involves C. You
> may get a lot of responses that don't directly answer your question;
> just ignore these.[/color]

If the response tells you that your question is off-topic, please
don't ignore it. It can be difficult for a newbie to know whether
something is part of the standard C language or a system-specific
extension. We discuss the former here; for the latter, you'll need a
system-specific newsgroup.

--
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keit h) kst-u@mib.org <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
San Diego Supercomputer Center <*> <http://users.sdsc.edu/~kst>
We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this.

[Skarmander]

Re: [OT] K&amp;R Wishlist

Keith Thompson wrote:[color=blue]
> Skarmander <invalid@dontma ilme.com> writes:
> [...]
>[color=green]
>>- If you get a warning or error that involves the word "pointer", look
>>at the offending line and add or remove * and & characters until the
>>error goes away.[/color]
>
>
> I'm not sure that's very good advice. It's better to study the error
> message and the code it refers to until you *understand* why the
> compiler complained, and how to write the code correctly.
>[/color]
<snip>

I'm going to assume you pulled a meta-joke by taking my suggestions
seriously... or otherwise you're trying to get some warming-up for an
improved "C for Dummies" book.

In which case, I'll want royalties.

S.

[Keith Thompson]

Re: [OT] K&amp;R Wishlist

Skarmander <invalid@dontma ilme.com> writes:[color=blue]
> Keith Thompson wrote:[color=green]
>> Skarmander <invalid@dontma ilme.com> writes:
>> [...]
>>[color=darkred]
>>>- If you get a warning or error that involves the word "pointer", look
>>>at the offending line and add or remove * and & characters until the
>>>error goes away.[/color]
>> I'm not sure that's very good advice. It's better to study the error
>> message and the code it refers to until you *understand* why the
>> compiler complained, and how to write the code correctly.
>>[/color]
> <snip>
>
> I'm going to assume you pulled a meta-joke by taking my suggestions
> seriously... or otherwise you're trying to get some warming-up for an
> improved "C for Dummies" book.
>
> In which case, I'll want royalties.[/color]

No, there was no intentional meta-joke, I Just Didn't Get It. *blush*.

--
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keit h) kst-u@mib.org <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
San Diego Supercomputer Center <*> <http://users.sdsc.edu/~kst>
We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this.

[Skarmander]

Re: [OT] K&amp;R Wishlist

Keith Thompson wrote:[color=blue]
> Skarmander <invalid@dontma ilme.com> writes:
>[color=green]
>>Keith Thompson wrote:
>>[color=darkred]
>>>Skarmander <invalid@dontma ilme.com> writes:
>>>[...]
>>>
>>>
>>>>- If you get a warning or error that involves the word "pointer", look
>>>>at the offending line and add or remove * and & characters until the
>>>>error goes away.
>>>
>>>I'm not sure that's very good advice. It's better to study the error
>>>message and the code it refers to until you *understand* why the
>>>compiler complained, and how to write the code correctly.
>>>[/color]
>>
>><snip>
>>
>>I'm going to assume you pulled a meta-joke by taking my suggestions
>>seriously.. . or otherwise you're trying to get some warming-up for an
>>improved "C for Dummies" book.
>>
>>In which case, I'll want royalties.[/color]
>
>
> No, there was no intentional meta-joke, I Just Didn't Get It. *blush*.
>[/color]
The frightening thing is, I'm sure many prospective "Dummies" don't,
either...

S.

[Fao, Sean]

Re: [OT] K&amp;R Wishlist

Skarmander wrote:[color=blue]
> Fao, Sean wrote:[color=green]
>> C For Dummies? Talk about an oxymoron.[/color][/color]
[color=blue]
> - Google offers a big library of ready-made C code. Use it to your
> advantage.
>
> - Should Google fail, try any book with a title ending on "in C".
> Chances are, what you want to do is in one of them.
>
> - If all else fails and you need to write a program yourself, don't
> panic. Start from something that vaguely resembles the problem you're
> trying to tackle and begin modifying it at random.
>
> - If you get a warning or error that involves the word "pointer", look
> at the offending line and add or remove * and & characters until the
> error goes away.
>
> - If you're really stumped on something, use Usenet (see "Usenet for
> Dummies") and ask a question on comp.lang.c. The friendly folks there
> stand at your attention to answer any question that involves C. You may
> get a lot of responses that don't directly answer your question; just
> ignore these.[/color]

Funny thing is, your advise might just be equal to or better than the
junk I saw in the "For Dummies" book I glanced over. If I remember
correctly, it was a Java book because I vaguely remember saying to
myself, "Yes, Java is for dummies" ;-).

--
Sean

[Corrupted Mind]

Re: K&amp;R Wishlist

Fao, Sean wrote:
[color=blue]
> C For Dummies? Talk about an oxymoron.
>
> I've glanced over only a single "for Dummies" book and it was probably
> the worst book I ever wasted my time on. That along with the "Learn
> [enter something here] in 24 Hours" books have always been worthless.[/color]

I did actually buy the C For Dummies ( vol 1 and vol 2 ) books for 10
cents each and even at this price that book is a fraud. I didn't
noticed it before I did get the K&R book. It cost me 60$ and compared
to the dummy one this book is extremely inexpensive.