Head First C by D & D Griffiths


Summary: Comprehensive introduction to C

C is not an easy to learn language. It has lots of places where you can get lost if you are not familiar with low level programming. When it comes to Head First C, it tries to present material as simply as possible. I’d suggest it as 101 course on C.

There are really good explanations of concepts that are hard to follow for people who are new to C. Pointers and pointers to functions become really simple to follow after you read explanations. Good job when it comes to simple explanation of make. Very well introduction to development based on libraries. You will also find threads explanation quite useful. Basically, after reading the book you will be familiar with most common and basic concepts related to C. But, as I said, this is only an introduction.

There are few issues when it comes to this book. It is very much Unix oriented. It means that learning C from this book while using Windows might be slightly complex. Basically you will have to deal with Command Line Interface, Cygwin, etc. This can be quite unpleasant for Windows adepts.

Last thing I really missed are examples for download. I know that examples in the book are really simple but sometimes I’d like to have them downloaded instead of typing the code.

Product page:

O’Reilly: http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920015482.do
Amazon: Head First C