Subject: Re: CCL:Books on C Programming and Unix

From: "Dr. Eric Walters" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 12:56:13 -0500

>I am posting this on behalf of a friend:
>Do you know a good book about Programming in C and about using
>Unix that you could recommend me?
>Judith

My favorite C programming book is "C Programming:  A Modern Approach" by
K.N. King.  Below is a review I wrote for J. Chem. Inf. Computer Sci.  Hope
this is helpful.

Eric Walters

---------

C Programming.  A Modern Approach.  By K.N. King.  W.W. Norton & Company:
New York.  1996.  661 pp.  $39.95.  ISBN 0-393-96945-2.

	Changing one's programming language is a little like changing one's
religious convictions--not something to be done on a whim.  A few years
ago, I decided to switch from Fortran (which I had used for over 20 years)
to C.  I purchased about a dozen different books purporting to explain how
to use the C language.  Most were densely unreadable, few had a usable
index, and some were riddled with errors.  The learning curve was
unnecessarily steep.
	Now comes the book I really wanted, by Prof. Kim King of Georgia
State University.  It is apparent that this book was written by someone who
has spent time teaching the subject.  The writing style is entertaining and
clear.  There are many good examples throughout the book.  Each chapter
includes a "Q & A" section which addresses frequently asked questions as
well as tangential issues which would detract from the flow of the text.
There are frequent cross-references to related material in other parts of
the book.  Source code for the book's programs, as well as errata, are
available on the author's World-Wide Web page.  And each chapter has a
variety of exercises, enabling the reader to evaluate the learning process.
Best of all, the index takes you right to the part of the book you
need--it's not too sparse, and it's not cluttered with tangential
references.
	The first time I picked up this book I quickly found the solution
to a file-reading bug which had perplexed me for months.  I am placing this
book at the top of my heap of programming texts, and I am recommending it
to all of my programming colleagues.

* D. Eric Walters, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Biological Chemistry
* Finch University of Health Sciences/The Chicago Medical School
* 3333 Green Bay Road, North Chicago, IL  60064
* ph 847-578-8613;fax 847-578-3240; email: [email-masked]
* "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that
*  no one would find fault with what he had done." --Cardinal Newman
* * visit my web page! http://www.finchcms.edu/biochem/walters.html * *