Where to start (self-)learning C, or should I learn a different language? [closed]

Answer 1

My first step in picking up C was a copy of "The C Programming Language" - it's a simple book, but the language is itself pretty simple.

Answer 2

If you want some good source code to read, I can heartily suggest Simon Tatham's Puzzle Collection (http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/puzzles/, scroll down to the bottom for developer documentation). From it, you can learn:

• How to do object-oriented-like programming in C (each game is in a sense a class that implements the "game" interface).
• How to write portable C (hide all the unportable stuff behind your own interface).
• How to comment and document your code.
• How to do GUI programming in C.
• How to implement data structures in C (I recall the union find and 2-4 trees being done).

Answer 3

1) The C programming Language K&R 2) Read a lot of C source code. Google code search

That is all.

Answer 4

About learning C

If you really want to learn C, [Kernighan and Ritchie "The C Programming Language" book](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_C_Programming_Language_(book)) is good start.

However nowadays, in my opinion, learning C is just mind exercise -- you can learn a lot important details like, for example:

1. Difference between equal operator (==) and assignment instruction (=),
2. Expression can have value (i.e. a = 1 has value 1),
3. Pointers arithmetic,
4. Direct memory operations (i.e. memset(), memcpy()).

These things are interesting for developers, but most of them is not in use in today mainstream application development (except two first points above).

However if you try to take part in some computer since competitions, C language can be useful.

My recommendation

I would learn C# because it's modern, well designed (in my opinion) object oriented programming language with good, free of charge IDE -- Visual Studio Express Edition, good support (wide community, a lot of source code to study, a lot of tutorials and examples). With C# you can write console application, desktop application or Web Apps, which makes easy to learn by solving wide range of real problems.

Also, on .NET platform there are some other interesting choices -- IronPyton or functional F#.

Answer 5

Another option if you want to learn programming fundamentals is to read Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming. This will introduce you to fundamentals from the very beginning of time. For extra understanding implement the algorithms yourself in C.