# Book on C programming. Still good?



## noone3000 (Dec 19, 2015)

I have a simple question to anyone that can answer. I have a book here that is called: Using C by Lee & Mark Atkinson. Was wondering if most of the information is still viable? I know c has gone through a couple changes, but would be nice to have something on the side to read (Better/easier on the eyes than a monitor...) that would still be usable. Anyone read it, or still read it?

p.s. The book was written in 1990. Forgot to mention that.


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## drhowarddrfine (Dec 19, 2015)

I never heard of it. I'm assuming you don't want to buy a newer book so, if the book is doing you good, then any decent book will get you through the basics and more just fine. You'll probably ask a question somewhere and get yelled at cause it's not using the current standard but that's when you'll know enough to search online, buy a newer book, read the standard, get one from the library, etc.


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## Juha Nurmela (Dec 19, 2015)

Check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_(programming_language) for "recent" C99 and C11 changes 

Juha


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## noone3000 (Dec 19, 2015)

Not that I don't want to read a newer book, I am totally open to suggestions, it's just something on the side. I mean staring at a monitor all day, while fun as it maybe, no matter what the task, isn't very forgiving on the eyes lol. I know C itself has gone through some changes, but something that isn't a complete loss in terms of learning, is a good read.


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## rabfulton (Dec 19, 2015)

Read whatever books you like. The C99 standard adds little over the C89 standard. Some of the commands to compile and link etc may be different (or platform specific) but the actual code and explanations should be relevant.


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## kpa (Dec 19, 2015)

The 2nd edition ANSI C version of the classic K&R book is still very current as far as the fundamentals of the language go. It won't help you much with UNIX programming though because it's limited to parts of the standard C library that are portable between every single C language implementation.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0131103628


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## noone3000 (Dec 19, 2015)

rabfulton said:


> Read whatever books you like. The C99 standard adds little over the C89 standard. Some of the commands to compile and link etc may be different (or platform specific) but the actual code and explanations should be relevant.



This right here was the answer I was looking for most. I figured most of the C language hadn't changed too much, however, it was one of those things to ask and make sure that their wasn't a huge change I missed when looking into it...


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## drhowarddrfine (Dec 19, 2015)

noone3000 said:


> I figured most of the C language hadn't changed too much


Well, don't be thinking that, cause a lot has changed since K&R when I first started with C in 1985. There are significant differences but, to tell the truth, I'm not one that can outline them for you cause I've just been writing the code until something breaks or I read something has changed. That's why I said you'll get yelled at if you post some code somewhere eventually if you aren't writing to C11 and POSIX. 

While you shouldn't get nervous about that, please don't think C hasn't changed much.


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## NewGuy (Dec 19, 2015)

I disagree, I've been writing C code for a long time and the language hasn't really changed much in the past 30 years. Any C text book is likely to provide you with working examples, the languages is pretty backward compatible. Some people might not like it if you write in the old K&R style, but most books written in the past 30 years are going to show more modern examples anyway, so it's not a practical concern.

My suggestion would be to pick up the core concepts from a book (functions, pointers, variable types) and then look at modern open source C projects for practical (and current) styles.


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## drhowarddrfine (Dec 19, 2015)

NewGuy Well, you're disagreeing with me but I said the same thing as you. Again, even ANSI C is not the same as K&R C which isn't the same as C99 or C11 but you wouldn't notice until you get into the details as I was trying to point out.


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