On Tue, 24 Sep 2024 14:44:12 +0200
Didier Kryn <kryn@???> wrote:

> Le 24/09/2024 à 13:02, o1bigtenor via Dng a écrit :
> >
> > Hmmmmm - - - so there are a whole pile of 'secret handshakes' and the
> > like in the learning of 'C' to necessitate the need for lessons - - -
> > that's
> > too bad. Having read many reports of poor quality C programming I am
> > somehow then even less impressed.
> > You're recommending a good book - - - - imo there are likely a
> > plethora of books - - - how does one determine which are good ones
> > without
> > previous understanding? (Seriously - - - to accurately determine the
> > quality
> > of a didactic text takes expertise and when one is starting the learning
> > process what one is exactly short of is that - - - expertise!)
> >
> > Over to you for more information.
>
>     I learned K&R C language starting in 1980, by writing programs,
> with an engineer at hand to answer my questions. ~10 years later I found
> an excellent book edited by O'Reilly, but I probably gave it to someone
> who did not give it back. Later I found at the same editor a book on
> both C and C++, which was poor about C. This was before C99, but well
> after the advent of ANSI C.
>
>     Today I'm not able to suggest a book. However I don't think it is
> valuable to learn K&R C. ANSI C was a big improvement, and there has
> been some other significant improvements since then, even if I don't
> know all of them. I guess there are professional C programmers around
> there who can suggest good books.
>
>     For what regards lessons on  programming languages, like in every
> matter, I have experienced that the learning is faster *and better* with
> lessons and tutorship, at least at the beginning. This is true for ski,
> and for swimming, and is also true for programming. Why wouldn't it be?

It is of course faster, but nothing beats in the long run developing your own
abstraction of how a programming language works the hard way by hitting
several times the wall to find out what works and what not and why.

Ciao,
Tito

>     Best regards.
>
> --     Didier
>