Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #890934 in Books
• Published on: 1997-08-01
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 525 pages

Synopsis
The C programming language was created as a mid level language that has the power of a higher level language like Pascal, while staying close to the underlying system language. This combination of power and flexibility makes C the perfect language for both beginning and experienced programmers. Although C++ has grown in popularity, this is simply an extension to C, and most programmers are advised to get a solid grounding in C before progressing to C++. This book is for the true beginner to programming. Ivor's excellent teaching style supports the newcomer through the first stages of programming and introduces them to some of the fascinating and challenging possibilities that lie ahead.

Customer Reviews

Generally a good beginning text
I've taught C classes using this as the textbook and find the students generally receptive to the book. As a previous reviewer mentioned some of the things the author does (such as define main with a void return type) are not correct, and he picks up the pace of coverage significantly in difficult areas such as pointers.

If you do buy this book, buy a good reference book such as "The C Programming Language" by Kernighan and Ritchie to go with it. Many library functions are not well documented in the Horton book.

If you know nothing about C and want to pick it up on your own, this book is one of the best I've seen at making it approachable. Its few errors are just (relatively) minor annoyances.

good for learning major concepts of C language, needs work
Mr. Horton does a fine job of providing numerous code examples throughout his book, and examples files are available from the Wrox Web site. Although the book is designed for individuals who do not have any programming experience, there are a few complex subjects that he tends to gloss over a bit (such as pointers). After leading students into the language slowly during the first few chapters, the book suddenly begins to accelerate and skips over steps in getting to certain conclusions. It would be helpful to have illustrations in some areas (there are few except for the code examples), such as when pointers are discussed (e.g., memory addresses, indirect addressing). Diehard ANSI standard programmers would probably disagree with his definition of the main procedure as void, and there is no adequate explanation of this presentation.

A good introduction to C, but better are available
This is the book I first used to learn how to program quite a while ago now. Well actually that is not strictly true, I had used a number of others (particularly the SAMS 24 hours series) and almost convinced myself that I was not cut out for this. I thought to myself after beginning with Tony Zhang's ‘Teach Yourself C in 24 hours’ that if this is the simplest way that it is possible to explain C then I simply cannot understand it. I was about to give up when I went into a bookstore and picked up Ivor Horton’s attempt to explain this apparent gibberish and after browsing through the first few pages realised that this was a far superior title.

When you begin programming you need the following: the author to assume you know absolutely nothing about programming, to guide you slowly, sometimes at a snails pace, through the fundamentals using quality examples, and to give you confidence that you have at least some idea of what is going on. I think in the first half of ‘Beginning C’ Horton achieves all of these things and for that I think he must be praised. I must agree that in the second half he does stretch the beginner a little too far (particularly in the area of pointers) at which point I admit to becoming more than a little lost. However this is still the book that got me started on the road to becoming a professional programmer and thus I must recommend it to all those who are at their wits end with other titles.

Subsequently I have used a number of books from the ‘in easy steps’ series by Mike McGrath which I have found to be extremely useful when looking to learn a new programming language. I cannot comment, though, on what these are like as guides for complete newcomers to programming even though they have achieved very good reviews. If I was to advise a newcomer to programming I would probably suggest you give McGrath a try first, his titles are half the price, and about one tenth of the size of many other programming guides and usually rely on freely available technology that you can download over the Internet rather than expensive commercial technologies. Failing that turn to Ivor Horton.