🚀 go-pugleaf

jimlynch@netcom.com (Jim Lynch @ Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)) wrote

 > >You should always start out with the official books:
 > >
 > >For C, it is _The_C_Programming_Langauge_ 2nd ed. by Kernighan & Ritchie
 > >For C++, it is _The_C++_Programming_Language 2nd ed. by Stroustrup
 > 
 > No no no no no no no no no no no no. These books are _unreadible_ to a beginner.
 > However, they can be quite valuable as a reference (whenever you get around to
 > learning how to read them...)

It is worth remembering that `beginner' means different things in different
contexts and what `unreadable' means depends critically on what kind of
beginner we are talking about.

If by `beginner' you mean `someone who approaches programming for the first
time,' you are almost certainly right (though I have heard of exceptions to
that rule). If, on the other hand, `beginner' means `experienced programmer
who just happens never to have encountered C or C++ before,' you are with
a high propability wrong (though again I suspect a few exceptions could be
found).

The backgrounds and expectations of want-to-be C or C++ programmers seem
infinitely varied and textbooks, approaches to teaching, and advise must
try to take that diversity into account. No one approach or one book can
cover all angles.

It is probably worth adding that both books are more readable than
their first editions. In the case of my book significantly so; in the
case of K&R less so because it was so smooth in the first place. Both
books explicitly assumes the reader to be a programmer. I'm sure C and
C++ can be taught to non-programmers as their first language (it has been
done), but that is not the aim of those two books.