Preface
This book is devoted to practical C programming. C is currently the premier language for software developers. That’s because it’s widely distributed and standard. Newer languages are available, such as C++, but these are still evolving. C is still the language of choice for robust, portable programming.
This book emphasizes the skills you will need to do real-world programming. It teaches you not only the mechanics of the C language, but the entire life cycle of a C program as well (including the program’s conception, design, code, methods, debugging, release, documentation, maintenance, and revision).
Good style is emphasized. To create a good program you must do more than just type in code. It is an art in which writing and programming skills blend themselves together to form a masterpiece. True art can be created. A well-written program not only functions correctly, but is simple and easy to understand. Comments allow the programmer to include descriptive text inside the program. When clearly written, a commented program is highly prized.
A program should be as simple as possible. A programmer should avoid clever tricks. This book stresses simple, practical rules. For example, there are 15 operator precedence rules in C. These can be simplified into two rules:
Multiply and divide come before add and subtract.
Put parentheses around everything else.
Consider two programs. One was written by a clever programmer using all the tricks. The program contains no comments, but it works. ...
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