C Primer Plus

by Stephen Prata

Overview

C Primer Plus is a carefully tested, well-crafted, and complete tutorial on a subject core to programmers and developers. This computer science classic teaches principles of programming, including structured code and top-down design.

 

Author and educator Stephen Prata has created an introduction to C that is instructive, clear, and insightful. Fundamental programming concepts are explained along with details of the C language. Many short, practical examples illustrate just one or two concepts at a time, encouraging readers to master new topics by immediately putting them to use.

 

Review questions and programming exercises at the end of each chapter bring out the most critical pieces of information and help readers understand and digest the most difficult concepts. A friendly and easy-to-use self-study guide, this book is appropriate for serious students of programming, as well as developers proficient in other languages with a desire to better understand the fundamentals of this core language.

 

The sixth edition of this book has been updated and expanded to cover the latest developments in C as well as to take a detailed look at the new C11 standard. In C Primer Plus you’ll find depth, breadth, and a variety of teaching techniques and tools to enhance your learning:

 

• Complete, integrated discussion of both C language fundamentals and additional features
• Clear guidance about when and why to use different parts of the language
• Hands-on learning with concise and simple examples that develop your understanding of a concept or two at a time
• Hundreds of practical sample programs
• Review questions and programming exercises at the end of each chapter to test your understanding
• Coverage of generic C to give you the greatest flexibility

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780133432381
Publisher:	Pearson Education
Publication date:	11/25/2013
Series:	Developer's Library
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	1072
File size:	68 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Stephen Prata , now retired, taught astronomy, physics, and programming at the College of Marin in Kentfield, California. He received his B.S. from the California Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. His association with computers began with the computer modeling of star clusters. Stephen as authored or coauthored over a dozen books, including C++ Primer Plus and Unix Primer Plus.

Read an Excerpt

C Primer PlusC Primer PlusPreface

C was a relatively little-known language when the first edition of C Primer Plus was written in 1984. Since then, the language has boomed, and many people have learned C with the help of this book. In fact, over 500,000 people have purchased C Primer Plus throughout its various editions.

As the language has grown from the early informal K&R standard through the 1990 ISO/ANSI standard to the 1999 ISO/ANSI standard, so has this book matured through this, the fifth edition. As with all the editions, my aim has been to create an introduction to C that is instructive, clear, and helpful.

Approach and Goals

My goal is for this book to serve as a friendly, easy-to-use, self-study guide. To accomplish that objective, C Primer Plus employs the following strategies:

• Programming concepts are explained, along with details of the C language; the book does not assume that you are a professional programmer.

• Many short, easily typed examples illustrate just one or two concepts at a time, because learning by doing is one of the most effective ways to master new information.

• Figures and illustrations clarify concepts that are difficult to grasp in words alone.

• Highlight boxes summarize the main features of C for easy reference and review.

• Review questions and programming exercises at the end of each chapter allow you to test and improve your understanding of C.

To gain the greatest benefit, you should take as active a role as possible in studying the topics in this book. Don't just read the examples, enter them into your system, and try them. C is a very portable language, but you may find differences between how a program works on your system and how it works on ours. Experiment—change part of a program to see what the effect is. Modify a program to do something slightly different. Ignore the occasional warnings and see what happens when you do the wrong thing. Try the questions and exercises. The more you do yourself, the more you will learn and remember.

I hope that you'll find this newest edition an enjoyable and effective introduction to the C language.

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

• Preface
• 1 Getting Ready
• 2 Introducing C
• 3 Data and C
• 4 Character Strings and Formatted Input/Output
• 5 Operators, Expressions, and Statements
• 6 C Control Statements: Looping
• 7 C Control Statements: Branching and Jumps
• 8 Character Input/Output and Input Validation
• 9 Functions
• 10 Arrays and Pointers
• 11 Character Strings and String Functions
• 12 Storage Classes, Linkage, and Memory Management
• 13 File Input/Output
• 14 Structures and Other Data Forms
• 15 Bit Fiddling
• 16 The C Preprocessor and the C Library
• 17 Advanced Data Representation

Preface

C Primer Plus

Preface

C was a relatively little-known language when the first edition of C Primer Plus was written in 1984. Since then, the language has boomed, and many people have learned C with the help of this book. In fact, over 500,000 people have purchased C Primer Plus throughout its various editions.

As the language has grown from the early informal K&R standard through the 1990 ISO/ANSI standard to the 1999 ISO/ANSI standard, so has this book matured through this, the fifth edition. As with all the editions, my aim has been to create an introduction to C that is instructive, clear, and helpful.

Approach and Goals

My goal is for this book to serve as a friendly, easy-to-use, self-study guide. To accomplish that objective, C Primer Plus employs the following strategies:

• Programming concepts are explained, along with details of the C language; the book does not assume that you are a professional programmer.

• Many short, easily typed examples illustrate just one or two concepts at a time, because learning by doing is one of the most effective ways to master new information.

• Figures and illustrations clarify concepts that are difficult to grasp in words alone.

• Highlight boxes summarize the main features of C for easy reference and review.

• Review questions and programming exercises at the end of each chapter allow you to test and improve your understanding of C.

To gain the greatest benefit, you should take as active a role as possible in studying the topics in this book. Don't just read the examples, enter them into your system, and try them. C is a very portable language, but you may find differences between how a program works on your system and how it works on ours. Experiment—change part of a program to see what the effect is. Modify a program to do something slightly different. Ignore the occasional warnings and see what happens when you do the wrong thing. Try the questions and exercises. The more you do yourself, the more you will learn and remember.

I hope that you'll find this newest edition an enjoyable and effective introduction to the C language.

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Editorial Reviews

New edition of a self-study guide in the fundamentals of C programming. Prata (computer programming, College of Marin) presents 17 chapters that discuss topics including extended integer types; expanded character, Boolean, and computational support; variable-length arrays; compound literals; designated initializers; and inline function. Changes to this edition include the new standard for the C language, the ISO/IEC 9899:1999 International Standard. Appropriate for both the non-professional and professional programmer and developer. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)