Practical C Programming, 3rd Edition

Part I. Basics

This part of the book teaches you the basic constructs of the C language. When you’re finished, you’ll be able to write well-designed and well-thought-out C programs. Style is emphasized early so that you can immediately start writing programs using a good programming style. Although you’ll be limited to small programs throughout this part, they’ll be well-written ones.

Chapter 1 gives a brief description of the C language and its use. This chapter includes some background on the history of the language.

Chapter 2 explains the basic programming process and gives you enough information to write a very simple program.

Chapter 3 discusses programming style. Commenting a program is covered, as well as writing clear and simple code.

Chapter 4 introduces you to simple C statements. Basic variables and the assignment statement are covered in detail, along with arithmetic operators +, -, *, /, and %.

Chapter 5 covers arrays and more complex variables. Shorthand operators such as ++ and %= are also described.

Chapter 6 explains simple decision statements including if, else, and for. A discussion of == versus = is presented.

Chapter 7 takes you through all the necessary steps to create a simple program from specification through release. Structured programming, fast prototyping, and debugging are also discussed.