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From: larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: Looking for a good C text
Message-ID: <1426@kitty.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 13-Nov-86 08:50:00 EST
Article-I.D.: kitty.1426
Posted: Thu Nov 13 08:50:00 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 14-Nov-86 01:53:31 EST
References: <2495@phri.UUCP>
Organization: Recognition Research Corp., Clarence, NY
Lines: 32
Summary: Book recommendations...

In article <2495@phri.UUCP>, roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) writes:
> 	I'm planning on giving a somewhat informal course in C programming
> and don't know what text to use.  The only C book I actually own is K&R's
> "The C Programming Language", aka The White Book.  While it's probably
> required reading, I don't know if it's really what I want.  Can anybody
> make any suggestions?
> 	The intended audience will be Ph.D. scientists (biological, not
> computer), and probably some graduate students (again, biologists).  ...

	I have had similar requirements in that I have had to "make it easy"
for engineers and chemists with a Fortran (or Basic - ugh!) background to
learn C and adapt to the UNIX environment.  While Kernighan/Ritchie and
Kernighan/Pike are the classic books to get started with, I have found two
other books which seem more intuitive:

"C Primer Plus" by Waite, Prata and Martin, ISBN 0-672-22090-3, Sams

"Advanced UNIX Programming" by Rochkind, ISBN 0-13-011800-1, Prentice-Hall

	"C Primer Plus" does a good job of dealing with C, independent of
the operating system.  For example, it makes it easy to understand such
topics as structures and unions - which is "culture shock" for a Fortran
programmer (at least it was for ME a few years back... :-) ).
	"Advanced UNIX Programming" fills in the pieces required for
real-world UNIX applications - like signals, files, I/O, system calls, etc.
	I still recommend the Kernighan books as further reference for any
serious user of C in the UNIX environment.

==>  Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp., Clarence, New York
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