11 May
2010
11 May
'10
8:15 a.m.
Date: Mon, 10 May 2010 12:12:26 -0700 (PDT)
From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com>
I used to be able to get K&R past them by calling
it "a classic work", and
by declaring it to be one of two texts for the class (the other being some
modern POS that we never bothered to open)
For a FIRST class in C, the commonly used textbooks are Deitel (600p, of
which 300 are about C, plus discussion of C++, Java, etc.), and "C Primer
Plus". Both are pretty good for beginners, but neither prepares the
student for what will happen when scanf is fed unformatted/sloppy data.
The clearest C book for beginners that I've read was "C: Step-by-Step" by
Waite & Prata. It actually teaches the material, rather than just
throwing it on the floor and hoping the student will pick it up.
Supplemented by K&R it made an excellent teaching vehicle. My opinion and
obviously different folks learn in different manners, but I felt that
Waite & Prata filled in the holes better and left fewer unexplained
assumptions than other works that I have seen.
And it won't give one back problems the way Deitel will.
Jeff Walther