Re:Ask HN: How to learn C in 2016?
by petr_tik on Thursday May 26, 2016 @07:04AM
(#11777019)
I am making my way through Zed Shaw’s [0] learn C the hard way [1]. I know many people won't like Zed's disregard for K&R, but the exact level of initial difficulty depends on your background. If C is your first compiled language (it is for me), you should appreciate Zed’s smooth guidance through the world of makefiles, valgrinds and necessary tooling to start learning C programming.
Another advantage of learn C the hard way is how data structure oriented it is – the exercise involve implementing BST, linked lists and other data structures, which gives you a great understanding of how basic data structures are implemented and used on hardware (sort of) level. IMO, C needs an accessible learning resource for beginners to have the high-level understanding of necessary tools and basics of compilation and all expert books like K&R are too intimidating. Zed is trying to occupy that niche, which draws a lot of fire from 20+ years of experience C hackers, who learnt it by building their own computer nand gates.
Another advantage of learn C the hard way is how data structure oriented it is – the exercise involve implementing BST, linked lists and other data structures, which gives you a great understanding of how basic data structures are implemented and used on hardware (sort of) level. IMO, C needs an accessible learning resource for beginners to have the high-level understanding of necessary tools and basics of compilation and all expert books like K&R are too intimidating. Zed is trying to occupy that niche, which draws a lot of fire from 20+ years of experience C hackers, who learnt it by building their own computer nand gates.
Hope this helps.
0 - http://c.learncodethehardway.org/book/ 1 - https://github.com/petr-tik/lcthw