Learn C the Hard Way: A Clear & Direct Introduction to Modern C Programming

Description

You Will Learn C! Zed Shaw has perfected the world's best system for learning C. Follow it and you will succeed-just like the hundreds of thousands of programmers Zed has taught to date! You bring discipline, commitment, persistence, and experience with any programming language; the author supplies everything else. In Learn C the Hard Way, you'll learn C by working through 52 brilliantly crafted exercises. Watch Zed Shaw's teaching video. Type his code precisely. (No copying and pasting!) Fix your mistakes. Watch the programs run. As you do, you'll learn what good modern C programs look like, how to think more effectively about code, and how to find and fix mistakes far more efficiently. Most importantly, you'll master rigorous defensive programming techniques, so you can use any language to create software that defends itself from malicious activity and defects. Shaw teaches all the key skills you need to start writing excellent C software: Planning and attention to detail Setting up a C environment Basic syntax and idioms Compilation, make files, and linkers Operators, variables, and data types Program control Arrays and strings Functions, pointers, and structs Memory allocation I/O and files Libraries Data structures, including linked lists, sort, and search Stacks and queues Debugging, defensive coding, and automated testing Fixing stack overflows, illegal memory access, and more It'll Be Hard At First. But Soon, You'll Just Get It-And That Will Feel Great! This tutorial will reward you for every minute you put into it. Soon, you'll know one of the world's most powerful programming languages. You'll be a C programmer. Watch Zed first! The accompanying DVD contains 5+ hours of passionate, powerful teaching to jumpstart your learning of each key skill: a complete C video course! Contents Acknowledgments This Book Is Not Really about C The Undefined Behaviorists C Is a Pretty and Ugly Language What You Will Learn How to Read This Book The Videos The Core Competencies Reading and Writing Attention to Detail Spotting Differences Planning and Debugging Exercise 1 Dust Off That Compiler Breaking It Down What You Should See How to Break It Extra Credit Exercise 2 Using Makefiles to Build Using Make What You Should See How to Break It Extra Credit Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W