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Overview
This is a very different book on the C language! In an easy, conversational style, Peter van der Linden, of Sun's compiler and OS kernel group, presents dozens of astonishing examples drawn from practical experience, including:
- Software that blew up the space probe to Venus
- The C bug that shut down the entire AT&T phone system
- C programmer job interview secrets
- Why programmers can't tell Halloween from Christmas day
- The C code for a complete BASIC interpreter
Expert C Programming reveals the coding techniques used by the best C programmers. It relates C to other languages, and includes an introduction to C++ that can be understood by an programmer without weeks of mind-bending study. Covering both the IBM PC and UNIX systems, it is an entertaining and educational romp through C showing how experts really use it. Expert C Programming is a must read for anyone who wants to learn more about the implementation, practical use, and folklore of C.
"Not just clearly written, but fun to read. The tone and style of this text should make this a popular book with professional programmers. However, the tone of this book will make it very popular with undergraduates. Appendix A alone would make the purchase of this book a must. It's filled with great advice."
—Professor Jack Beidler, Chairman, Department of Computer Science, University of Scranton
"So that's why extern char *cp isn't the same as extern char cp. I knew that it didn't work despite their superficial equivalence, but I didn't know why. I also love the job interview test questions on C."
—David S. Platt, Rolling Thunder Computing
"In Expert C Programming, Peter van der Linden combines C language expertise and a subtle sense of humor to deliver a C programming book that stands out from the pack. In a genre too often known for windy, lifeless prose, van der Linden's crisp language, tongue-in-cheek attitude, and real-world examples engage and instruct."
—John Barry, author of Sunburst, Technobabble, and other books
Most C books are filled with dry and boring prose about C syntaxes, libraries, and pointers... until now. Written much like Libe's Life With UNIX book, van der Linden combines comical anecdotes as well as instructional programming tips on C. Informative footnotes on software dogmas, programming challenges, and handy heuristics are give facts, tips and tricks on C programming. Chapter eleven will digress a little into C++ language characteristics such as polymorphism, declarations, inheritances and multiple inheritances. The differences between "K & R" C and ANSI C are deftly explained as well as virtual and cache memory, stack segments under different platforms, and C arrays and pointers. A couple of anecdotes explain the $20 million bug held in the asynchronous I/O library, and the 1962 forced explosion of a $12 million rocket because of an error in programming. At the completion of this book you will not get a cookie, but you will get a Certificate of Merit (which is at the end of chapter 11) for burning the midnight oil studying this stuff. Don't be shocked if you find yourself wanting to read this book instead of having to read it!
Synopsis
Written for experienced C programmers who want to quickly pick up some of the insights and techniques of experts and master the fine arts of ANSI C, this volume passes on the wisdom of a highly experienced C compiler writer and his colleagues to help programmers reach new heights, and avoid common software pitfalls along the way. Using an original approach and a humorous style that makes deep knowledge both easy and accessible, it gathers into one place, tips, hints, shortcuts, guidelines, ideas, idioms, heuristics, tools, anecdotes, C folklore, and techniques that are often penciled in margins and on backs of papers by those working in the programming trenches—working on many different kinds of projects, over many, many years.
Each chapter is divided into self-contained sections. Includes extended discussions of major topics such as declarations and arrays/pointers; offers a great many hints and mnemonics; covers topics that many C programmers find confusing; and features one of the best introductions to C++, and the rationale behind it. Throughout, technical details are interspersed with many true stories of how C programming works in practice, and each chapter ends with an amusing C story or piece of software folklore.
For software engineers and computer programmers who are writing, developing, testing, debugging software on either IBM PCs or Unix systems.