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From: gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: getting started
Message-ID: <14943@smoke.brl.mil>
Date: 23 Jan 91 23:01:12 GMT
References: <1991Jan22.020449.20131@sci.ccny.cuny.edu> <1991Jan23.022639.1677@NCoast.ORG>
Organization: U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory, APG, MD.
Lines: 24

In article <1991Jan23.022639.1677@NCoast.ORG> catfood@NCoast.ORG (Mark W. Schumann) writes:
>It's been said before, and I'll say it again... get the original
>"white book."  Better still, buy the update.  _The_C_Programming_Language_
>is still a classic.  As long as you already are familiar with some
>other third-generation language, you will find this the most
>useful beginning.  Authors of the first edition circa 1980 were
>Kerninghan & Ritchie.  Authors of second edition are ?????.

Still by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie, published by Prentice-Hall,
ISBN 0-13-110362-8.  I agree that this is the best introduction for
programmers with previous experience in Fortran, Pascal, or a similar
language.  It is probably not the best C tutorial for a programming
novice (but that wasn't the situation here).  The Second Edition of
"The C Programming Language" has had numerous changes from the first on
practically every page, and is recommended over the First Edition (which
unfortunately seems to be the one mostly stocked by bookstores) for all
purposes other than access to Appendix A for the specifications for
so-called "K&R C".  The Second Edition explains where ANSI/ISO C and
"K&R C" differ, so it can be used to learn C no matter which flavor of C
one has access to; however, the code examples do assume ANSI/ISO C.

Dennis posted an errata sheet for the Second Edition some time ago; I
don't know whether or not current printings include these corrections.
They were relatively minor, though.