Learn C the Hard Way: Practical Exercises on the Computational Subjects You Keep Avoiding (Like C) (Zed Shaw's Hard Way Series)

This is the Rough Cut version of the printed book. Need to learn C? Now you can! Forget old-fashioned C programming books that assume you're a computer hardware expert and teach frustrating, old-fashioned coding styles. If you know any language at all, Zed A. Shaw's Learn C the Hard Way can help you get started fast with modern C programming. This book/CD package is called "The Hard Way," but it's really quite easy: it just requires discipline, practice, and persistence. Shaw teaches how to write modern, clean, clear C code through dozens of brilliantly-crafted exercises, most on two pages. You simply read each exercise, type in its sample code precisely (no copy-and-paste!), and make the programs run. As you read, type, fix your mistakes, and watch the results, you learn how C works... what good modern C programs look like... how to read, write, and "see" code... how to spot crucial differences that change or break programs... all the essentials of C logic, I/O, variables, and functions... and the attention to detail that is indispensable to successful C programming. At first, yes, it can be difficult. But it gets easier. And Shaw offers plenty of extra help through 5+ full hours of CD-based teaching video. Nothing important comes without discipline, practice, and persistence. But, with this package, if you bring those qualities, you will master C... and you will reap the very real personal and career rewards that go with C programming expertise! Need to learn C? Now you can! Forget old-fashioned C programming books that assume you're a computer hardware expert and teach frustrating, old-fashioned coding styles. If you know any language at all, Zed A. Shaw's Learn C the Hard Way can help you get started fast with modern C programming. This book/CD package is called The Hard Way, but it's really quite easy: it just requires discipline, practice, and persistence. Shaw teaches how to write modern, clean, clear C code through dozens of brilliantly-crafted exercises, none longer than two pages. You simply read each exercise, type in its sample code precisely (no copy-and-paste!), and make the programs run. As you read, type, fix your mistakes, and watch the results, you learn how C works...what good modern C programs look like...how to read, write, and see code...how to spot crucial differences that change or break programs...all the essentials of C logic, I/O, variables, and functions...and the attention to detail that is indispensable to successful C programming. At first, yes, it can be difficult. But it gets easier. And Shaw offers plenty of extra help through 5 full hours of CD-based teaching video. Nothing important comes without discipline, practice, and persistence. But, with this package, if you bring those qualities, you will master C...and you will reap the very real personal and career rewards that go with C programming expertise! Cover Title Contents Acknowledgments This book is not really about C 0 The setup 1 Dust off that compiler 2 Using makefiles to build 3 Formatted printing 4 Using a debugger 5 Memorizing C operators 6 Memorizing C syntax 7 Variables and types 8 If, else-if, else 9 While-loop and boolean expressions 10 Switch statements 11 Arrays and strings 12 Sizes and arrays 13 For-loops and arrays of strings 14 Writing and using functions 15 Pointers, dreaded pointers 16 Structs and pointers to them 17 Heap and stack memory allocation 18 Pointers to functions 19 Zed's awesome debug macros 20 Advanced debugging techniques 21 Advanced data types and flow control 22 The stack, scope, and globals 23 Meet Duff's device 24 Input, output, files 25 Variable argument functions 26 Project logfind 27 Creative and defensive programming 28 Intermediate makefiles 29 Libraries and linking 30 Automated testing 31 Common undefined behavior 32 Double linked lists 33 Linked list algorithms 34 Dynamic array 35 Sorting and searching 36 Safer strings 37 Hashmaps 38 Hashmap algorithms 39 String algorithms 40 Binary search trees 41 Project devpkg 42 Stacks and queues 43 A simple statistics engine 44 Ring buffer 45 A simple TCP/IP client 46 Ternary search tree 47 A fast URL router 48 A simple network server 49 A statistics server 50 Routing the statistics 51 Storing the statistics 52 Hacking and improving your server Next steps Index In Learn C the Hard Way, you'll learn C by working through 52 brilliantly crafted exercises