Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!ficc!walker
From: walker@ficc.uu.net (Walker Mangum)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: Wanted: advice on a good C textbook
Summary: I still recommend _The C Puzzle Book_
Message-ID: <5091@ficc.uu.net>
Date: 19 Jul 89 17:34:49 GMT
References: <2790@ssc-vax.UUCP> <5005@ficc.uu.net> <1900@prune.bbn.com> <6381@bunker.UUCP>
Organization: Adytum, Inc.
Lines: 51

In article <6381@bunker.UUCP>, garys@bunker.UUCP (Gary M. Samuelson) writes:
> In article <1900@prune.bbn.com> rsalz@bbn.com (Rich Salz) writes:
> [in my previous posting]
> 
> >>I *highly* recommend _The C Puzzle Book_.
> 
> >Ick.  I highly disrecommend this book.  It teaches you to debug code that
> >only a psychopath would write, and warps you into looking for things that
> >are almost never there.
> 
> I haven't read _The C Puzzle Book_, but learning to debug code
> that only a psychopath (or should that be sociopath?) would write
> is a marketable skill.

Exactly the point.  I suppose some of you are fortunate enough to only
ever see your own beautifully styled, expertly crafted, well commented,
and obviously lucid code.

I'm not.  Of course, my own code is beautiful ;-), but I swear some that
I pick up comes from deranged minds.  I don't actually have to maintain
this crap, but I freely admit that I enjoy reading other peoples code,
because:   1. I occasionally find a new and elegant solution to something.
           2. I don't try to invent everything (I'm not big in NIH).  If
              I find something I can use, I pack it away for future
              use.
           3. It teaches me what not to do.  I recognize vomit when
              I see it, and try not to do same.
           4. It is fun to see how stupid some people are.  0.5 ;-)

Anyway, there is a difference between being able to decode vomit and 
habitually puking.  I think that it is a damned important skill to be
able to do the former, and to avoid the latter.

I presume that those of you who argue that exposure to bad code causes 
one to create bad code work alone, or only with other perfect programmers.

Anyway, I still *highly* recommed _The C Puzzle Book_.  I don't think 
that bad coding style (and, I agree, it's in there) is contagious from
mere exposure.  I didn't recommend using any of the styles in the book,
and I don't give a crap what standard the puzzles do or don't conform
to.  The point is, if you can answer the puzzles correctly, you MUST
possess a good working knowledge of C.

Here's the publisher's info:
	Feuer, Alan R., THE C PUZZLE BOOK.  Prentice-Hall, 1982.

-- 
Walker Mangum                                  |  Adytum, Incorporated
phone: (713) 333-1509                          |  1100 NASA Road One  
UUCP:  uunet!ficc!walker  (walker@ficc.uu.net) |  Houston, TX  77058
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