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From: keith@oz.UUCP (Keith Crews)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: C Review
Message-ID: <446@oz.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 15-Jan-87 15:46:48 EST
Article-I.D.: oz.446
Posted: Thu Jan 15 15:46:48 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 16-Jan-87 02:41:53 EST
References: <2313@brl-adm.ARPA> <369@mipos3.UUCP>
Reply-To: keith@oz.UUCP (Keith Crews)
Organization: EnMasse Computer Corp, Acton, MA
Lines: 27

In article <2313@brl-adm.ARPA> Peter@adm.UUCP writes:
-I am currently finishing up a new text book on C with a colleague
<....>

-"... 95% of all C programmers couldn't give you a good
-explanation of the term lvalue..."

-"... very few C programmers know much about sizeof..."

-"... 99%  of  all  professional C  programmers  have no idea
-what typedef is all about, couldn't care less and probably
-won't ever need it."

-"... 99%  of  all  professional C  programmers  have no idea
-what the comma operator is all about, couldn't care less and
-probably won't ever need it."

-"... Pointers to functions ... few C programmers understand
-them or would ever need them..."

I agree with everyone else that the reviewer you got is a turkey, but
he appears to have (inadvertently) made an interesting point - there
are several areas of C that even experienced C programmers do not
understand well.  I think that you should emphasize these in your book,
rather than omit them as he seems to imply you should.  BTW, his
statement about switch statements being unimportant really stands
out among the others as being particularly ridiculous.