C: The Complete Reference, 4th Ed. Review

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C: The Complete Reference, 4th Ed. ReviewHaving come across Schild's book when starting out as a programmer I
believed it to be one of the best I've read. In this respect it is
very good for a beginner, but searching now for a reference manual
(I've misplaced the misnomer: "C, A Complete Reference") as a
more experienced programmer I realise this is really a
tutorial.
Comparing it against other C reference books I now see the
deficiencies. Schild's book tries to be all things to all men:
oOo
Tutorial: A very chatty manner as it leads you through the workings of
each area, I like the description of "make", albeit brief.
oOo
Reference manual: It covers most of the C language, but there is
incomplete coverage of the C language (eg errno, and bzero).
oOo
Algorithm book: It describes the use of Artificial Intelligence, but
this is such a huge area it only wets the appetite. A reader
attracted by these areas would better off buying a book which
concentrates on these areas specifically and in greater depth.
I was
disappointed to discover the third edition of this book had the C++
overview removed. The new section, "a C interpreter", which I
suspect is to pad out the book after removing the useful chapters from
previous editions is practically useless. It would have been better
to write something similar to Steel's coverage of writing 'clean C'
where a C program runs in a C++ environment to distinguish the
conflict areas between C and C++.
Another failing of Schild's book
is the all too brief coverage of some areas summarised with the cop
out "consult your manufacturer's manual for details".
In the
format of a good reference book, Schild lays down many parts of the C
language under function headings such as "signal". However,
towards the end of each description is a section entitled "see
related functions" with an incomplete list of references; for
example under "signal" it is "raise", but missing
"ssignal, psignal, gsignal". Instead of spreading descriptions
around like this it would be easier to read if related functions were
grouped under a similar heading, so the reader isn't distracted
searching for them.
Schild's book has moved from discussing C in a
DOS environment in his first edition to a Windows environment in the
third edition. Although Schild does cover UNIX, the platform where C
originated, he has skimmed the surface like a pebble across a
pond.
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C Programming for Scientists and Engineers With Applications Review

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C Programming for Scientists and Engineers With Applications ReviewPart of the reason for the book's bulk is the authors' extensive use of complete example programs. Typically other programming texts furnish code snippets, which is no big deal if you are an experienced programmer. But this text is directed at someone with absolutely no previous experience with programming [in any language]. Hence, by providing entire programs, the reader has a simpler time.
There is also a good use of flowcharts. The reader needs to get familiar with these, as a diagrammatic way of understanding programs and their underlying algorithms. If you want to make a living in this field, flowcharting is a basic skill to be cultivated.
Pseudocode is also given. Another aspect of programming that must be learnt. Part of your core competence will be to take pseudocode and manually translate this into functioning C code [or code of another language].
The book covers all major elements of C. The most interesting discussion might be about strings. This is a major weakness of C, since a string is not a basic data type. Hence the book warns about overruns - which are mismatches between the space you allocate for a string and the actual writing of a string into that space. What the book doesn't stress is that in practice, this is one of the major causes, if not the main cause, of bugs in C programs. Later languages like Java and C# realised this error in C and promoted strings to a fundamental data type, for this very reason.
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Writing Compilers and Interpreters Review

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Writing Compilers and Interpreters ReviewThere are several things you should know about this book:
1) The book implements a top-down or recursive-descent parser, as opposed to a standard shift-reduce parser. This is *very* important, as lex/yacc, Visual Parse++, and other parsing tools are efficient shift-reduce macines. Thus, the parser isn't really portable. Even so, I did find the the symbol table design that's used by the parser to be critical for what I needed.
2) The printed material is mostly (say 70%) code listings, thus even though the book is a whopping 838 pages, it would be much slimmer with fewer listings. The code is downloadable from the pusblisher's (Wiley) site.
3) The 30% of text and figures that are in the book could be much more insightful. For example, Chapter 11 - the interactive debugger should at least have some description (screenshots perhaps) of how to use the debugger. (Hint, the commands end with a semi-colon.)
4) Even though this book is C++ oriented, it doesn't use standard containers like linked lists, or trees (maps/sets). The classes have pointers in them that makes the class also act as a its own node in a list or whatever. This makes the design much more confusing than it needs to be.
5) The symbol table implementation has heavy circular dependencies. Quite honestly I don't know of a better implementation (yet). This does, however pose a problem if you'll need to extend the design (to use STL containers, to self-serialize, etc.)
The book has been a godsend, but I couldn't honestly let the 4 and 5 star reviews sit unchallenged. If I had known the above sooner, I could have saved quite a few weekends.
I think an Ideal Writing Compilers book would come bundled with a thirty day version of Visual Parse++ or Dr. Parse, and work from there.Writing Compilers and Interpreters Overview

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Programming for the Absolute Beginner (No Experience Required (Course Technology)) Review

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Programming for the Absolute Beginner (No Experience Required (Course Technology)) ReviewSome will be quick to tell you that it's worthless to learn JustBASIC because you can't do much with it and you should instead learn Visual Basic. I started learning BASIC when I was about 5 or 6 (my dad is a programmer and taught me a lot!), but then never used it for a long time. 20 years later, I find myself with the desire to learn Visual Basic. I had told my dad that I wanted to learn Visual Basic to create some software for a non-profit organization that I run. I had said that I felt the best way to learn to program is to go through what I call "bootcamp" which is basically having to code EVERYTHING at first. You'll get a better grip on what's going on behind the scenes and the ability to better appreciate Visual Basic's IDE. He told me that when we went from Quick Basic (or qbasic) to Visual Basic, it was a relatively quick and easy, painless experience because so much of the code he'd been using still applied.
One of the things I wish that this book would do is give quizzes at the end. I can't even tell you how helpful those can be in making sure you understand the information. How else are you to know just how much you learned? Some of the games are a little (lot) goofy in this book, but they do what they're supposed to do: demonstrate the use of the code covered in that chapter as well as previous chapters. You also end up with a few programs that with a little modification could be quite fun to play! I'm working on a slot machine program that will pull up all of the pictures in the folder that the program is found in and display them as you win rather than basing it solely on how much money you have. That way I could cycle through family vacations, weddings, etc. in a more interactive way. While it might not be something I will use often, it's definitely one more Problem for me to try to figure out. Isn't that, after all, what programming is all about? Problem-Solving?
In the end, I'd have to say that this book is very good. Pick it up, learn it, master it and move on. You'll be a stronger programmer in five years if you keep to the simple basics of breaking down programs, using subroutines/functions to streamline your programs and using liberal use of comments all throughout the code. Definitely worth the money!Programming for the Absolute Beginner (No Experience Required (Course Technology)) Overview

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C++ for Dummies Review

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C++ for Dummies ReviewI've been looking for just the right introduction to programming for some time. I've spent more than a dozen hours combing through the shelves in my local Borders and B&N, skimming over 50 so-called "introductory" texts, looking for one that I could really learn from. By way of background, I am an advanced computer user/tinkerer, but I'm completely inexperienced in the field of programming -- never so much as typed a lick of code.
In reviewing other books, I didn't want to start with a book about C, because conventional wisdom says that it's a bad idea to start with C (a procedural language) if you plan to use it to jumpstart a study of C++ or java (hybrid OOP languages). I also didn't want to start with a book on QBasic, because it seems to me that the language is pretty much obsolete. For me, I wanted to learn OOP, and that meant a commitment to C++ and/or java (preferably both, as each has its strengths and weaknesses, and they are similar and popular enough to study together).
That said, I looked at somewhat advanced introductory books by Deitel, Savitch, and Horton, all of which are extremely well-reviewed here on Amazon. I also looked at several books from Microsoft Press, as I planned on learning by using components of the Visual Studio. Horton's Beginning C++ came close, but its massive size and more advanced approach left me looking for a different introductory text (I plan on returning to Horton's book though, to supplement what I learn from Mr. Davis' book).
Finally, this new edition of C++ for Dummies came out just in time. This book really hits the mark on many levels: (1) it assumes no knowledge of programming; (2) it does a great job of explaining truly complex topics without going overboard or hitting you over the head; (3) it is clear and entertaining; and (4) it is new and compliant with the latest standards, which is more than I can say for books written, say, pre-1998.
Do yourself a favor -- if you have no programming experience and want to learn a cutting edge OOP language like C++ or java, start here, then use that knowledge to branch out to more advanced material. Personally, I'm supplementing this reading with Horton's Beginning C++ and Beginning Java 2 (JDK 1.3 Version), and Bruce Eckel's highly praised Thinking in Java.
Good luck!C++ for Dummies Overview

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Understanding the Linux Kernel, Third Edition Review

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Understanding the Linux Kernel, Third Edition ReviewThe book "Undestanding the Linux Kernel",
explains clearly the inner workings of the
current 2.6 Linux kernel.
The presentation is at a considerable level of detail,
the authors fully describe the important data structures,
and the significant chunks of code.
The book is indispensable to any serious
Linux kernel developer.
However, it can be used also at the context
of an "Operating Systems Design" academic course
and the students can learn a lot from the
technologically advanced Linux 2.6 kernel implementation
and can modify/recompile and install their own version!
The level of the book is advanced and I recommend
concurrently with it, the reader to study also the
book:
"Linux kernel development" by Robert Love
that presents the algorithms also very clearly,
but with a more academic view,
without zooming to all the implementation concerns.
I own both books and by studing them, I can have
the significant experience of customizing the source code
of the superior Linux 2.6 kernel.
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C++ Without Fear: A Beginner's Guide That Makes You Feel Smart Review

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C++ Without Fear: A Beginner's Guide That Makes You Feel Smart ReviewThere are many "beginner" books on C++, but many of them assume some proficiency in C or another programming language. If you're new to programming (or have some background in C) and want to learn C++, you will do well with this book. The author doesn't make you learn all the features and syntax of C++ before getting started. He starts you writing useful programs right away and explains how things work in simple language and with the help of very good illustrations. The book also focuses on the core language, the basics of C++ that will not only get you writing useful programs, but will prepare you well for the more advanced features that this book doesn't cover (templates, STL, generic programming). Don't have a compiler? The CD contains GCC, the GNU Compiler Collection C++ compiler. This compiler is standard for Linux and Mac OS X and is available free for MS Windows and many other computing environments. This book doesn't lock you in to writing Windows-only software. Overall this is a very good beginner book for learning C++. There may be more comprehensive books (Bruce Eckel's "Thinking in C++ is very good, but it comprises 2 volumes each with twice as many pages as this one.) but this one is a very good way to get your feet wet before going on to others.
Why should a beginner learn C++ instead of another language that is supposedly "easier" to learn or more popular? There are several good reasons, but here are a few: First, C++ isn't really that hard to learn. C++ was build upon the C language. It adds many advanced features to C and was first adopted by programmers who were already experts in C. For a long time it was thought that it was best to learn C first before moving on to C++. But that's just the C programmer's bias. Until recently, few people have taken the time to think about a beginner's approach to learning C++ directly. I'm glad to see that changing. Second, C++, in spite of all it's quirks, is probably the most powerful and versatile general purpose programming language. You can do anything with it. It supports 3 programming models (procedural, object-oriented, and generic programming). All have very useful applications. Finally, learning to program in C++ will get you closer to the machine than virtual machine languages like Java and C#. You'll learn more about how a real computer actually works while writing faster running programs in a high-level language. The C++ relationship to C is an asset, not a liability, since the C Standard Library and system APIs are ubiquitous.The C++ Language, and the compilers that support it, have continued to improve over the years and will continue to improve in the future. There's not a lot of industry hype behind C++ partly because many software companies and consultants make more money selling supporting software and services for Java and .Net. Time will tell how well these newer technologies really serve their early adopters. (The jury is still out, I think.) C++ is a good investment. There is quite a variety of open-source, free software libraries (including GUI programming) and software frameworks that support it. C++ isn't the only computer language you should learn, but it makes a very good foundation for learning others that may be more effective for certain kinds of applications.C++ Without Fear: A Beginner's Guide That Makes You Feel Smart Overview

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