where to learn C

theliam

i can code fine in c++ and java, whats a good online tutorial/reference to code in c. dont really want to start at hello world, or is it best to flick through from the start?

fasty

I don't think there's a need to start with hello world, but the book below is considered THE reference.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_C_Programming_Language_(book)

What do you want to do in C?

dlofnep

http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Language-2nd-Brian-Kernighan/dp/0131103628

p

I own that book suggested above. Do not buy it.

It's not a bad book, and it'd be good if you got into C futher, but it's a very abstract way to learn a language and is very tough to follow because of that.

fasty

The K&R book is considered the bible of C. If you know how to program already it's a great reference to the language.

dlofnep

p wrote: »

I own that book suggested above. Do not buy it.

It's not a bad book, and it'd be good if you got into C futher, but it's a very abstract way to learn a language and is very tough to follow because of that.

It's the greatest book ever written on the C language.

Peanut

If you have any web development experience, I would suggest googling for CGI development in C.

Using CGI is a quick and easy way for adding an output interface to C code, and you can do some cool things like image processing that may otherwise be too slow in more commonly used server side languages like PHP.

p

dlofnep wrote: »

It's the greatest book ever written on the C language.

It's not a bad book, as others have said, it's a good reference book, but it's not a good book for learning C from scratch.

It's very detailed in explaining specific language syntax and features, but not good at teaching you real world use and actually building solutions.

Good to compliment another book or other learning methods.

theliam

fasty wrote: »

I don't think there's a need to start with hello world, but the book below is considered THE reference.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_C_Programming_Language_(book)

What do you want to do in C?

considering doing a final year project in graphics and from a brief look online, stuff seemed to be in c. i was reading some 'GL' thing

dlofnep

p wrote: »

It's not a bad book, as others have said, it's a good reference book, but it's not a good book for learning C from scratch.

It's very detailed in explaining specific language syntax and features, but not good at teaching you real world use and actually building solutions.

Good to compliment another book or other learning methods.

Nonsense.

It's been pretty much the definitive source for every C programmer. And especially ideal for someone who has prior programming experience like the OP.

It's short, but covers pretty much everything you'll need to know. Beyond that, all you need is creativity and a little referencing here and there.

Telling someone not to buy The C Programming language is ridiculous, when most C programmers will always cite it as a great book on the language. Even the Amazon reviews are all positive.

fasty

theliam wrote: »

considering doing a final year project in graphics and from a brief look online, stuff seemed to be in c. i was reading some 'GL' thing

OpenGL is a C library but you can use it from C++. Direct3D is Microsoft's graphics API and again you can use C++.

Basically C, C++, C# it doesn't really matter.

Computer graphics programming is really hard. Don't make it harder by throwing a new language into the mix.

theliam

fasty wrote: »

OpenGL is a C library but you can use it from C++. Direct3D is Microsoft's graphics API and again you can use C++.

Basically C, C++, C# it doesn't really matter.

Computer graphics programming is really hard. Don't make it harder by throwing a new language into the mix.

cool, thanks. is there a decent 3d java library?

i figure i should know a bit of C anyway so might go through the book anyway...

fasty

Get the book for sure! Knowing as many languages as possible is a good thing.

As for Java 3D libraries... I dunno really, I primarily develop in C++ and C# for work, but I use the same for my game and graphics projects. I suppose JOGL?

Anima

Theres a fair few 3D things for Java. JMonkey is a good games engine for instance.