# Programming



## VIKINI (Oct 23, 2007)

I have been wondering where to get it, but i have been wanting a tutorial type program or book to learn C. I want to have a lower programming language to build upon the others i plan to take...(C++, HTML,etc...). Any suggestions of where to find or buy?
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## raven222002 (Nov 17, 2007)

ummm honestly i would suggest ebay or amazon. i seen some program writing software stuff that would help you learn. not too sure what though. RSW


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## shuuhen (Sep 4, 2004)

I'll assume you're just using XP (since that's the only OS you have listed that you use). You could use Cygwin (I've heard of issues with it, but haven't used it in detail to know) or Dev-C++ if you're interested in learning C and/or C++. Cygwin is basically a way to mimic some Linux functionality on Windows (although I can't stand it since I have REAL Linux and Unix OSs on all machines I own, as a rule).

As far as books go, The C Programming Language (usually known as K&R for the authors - Kernighan & Ritchie) is supposed to be the best book on C. There are many other books, like C for Dummies. I haven't read either of these (although I plan on reading the first one if I can get it from the university library), but some people do like these ones and I didn't like the ones I read enough to recommend them. K&R is supposed to teach good programming, so I'd check it out first.


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## techsupport33 (Nov 27, 2007)

Hi friend !
I want to know that i can learn C++ language easily whereas 
i am working with the core Java .i can also work with C smoothly .


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## MattBro (Nov 11, 2006)

I suggest Visual C++ Express 2008 (Free download from Microsoft MSDN) and the book C++ Fundamentals from CyberRookies.


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## Bookworm99 (Jun 5, 2007)

techsupport33, please don't hijack other people's threads. 

MattBro's suggestions are good, however, I recommend Dev-C++ if you're looking for a free compiler. 

Also, I suggest learning C++ or C#, not regular C. It's a bit old.


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## shuuhen (Sep 4, 2004)

Bookworm99 said:


> techsupport33, please don't hijack other people's threads.
> 
> MattBro's suggestions are good, however, I recommend Dev-C++ if you're looking for a free compiler.
> 
> Also, I suggest learning C++ or C#, not regular C. It's a bit old.


What's wrong with C? It's more portable than C# and still very much in use. Embedded devices and open source projects are big users of C. Many languages I've looked at base a large part of their syntax on C. Still a great language for many reasons.

C# isn't very useful on non-Windows systems. There are implementations of it available for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems, but the code still won't port over as well as good C code. I've also found it fairly annoying to install the few C# programs I've tried in Linux.


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## Bookworm99 (Jun 5, 2007)

Nothing's wrong with C - however, it is an older language, and it is superseded by C++. As far as I know, C++ can do everything C can do and more; and you'll probably have an easier time with it. I don't see anything in your post about C++, so I'll assume it's just C# you're concerned about.

I recommended C# as a sort of 'step up,' from C++. Even if it's not widely used, it's still a fairly good language and people could probably benefit from learning it, even if they aren't going to use it; it was just a recommendation because it's a newer version of C. 

Also, good C++ code can port to Mac, Windows, and Linux as far as I know - though to be fair, I do most of my coding on Windows.


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## shuuhen (Sep 4, 2004)

C++ is fairly portable between Windows and the many Unix-like operating systems (Mac OS X, Linux, FreeBSD, etc.). It does add some features that make some things easier, but both languages can solve the exact same problems. However, C is used for projects like the kernel of at least most open source operating systems (possibly all of them). There are huge debates on which is better all over the internet, but I'm still a fan of C. I think that it seems easier to understand what the machine is actually doing from learning C than from learning C++ (or other language with comfort features - but without the task of learning assembly), which should translate to better code. Still very much in use. Still a great language.

I've heard from most people discussing the subject that it's easier to go from C to C++ than it is to go from C++ to C. I have one friend that wanted to learn C, but after programming for a long time in C#, he found it too difficult. Too many comfort features were missing in C (even though it should be able to solve any problem C# could).

C# is good for certain purposes on Windows, but I wouldn't recommend anyone learn it as a first language. Businesses like it for many reasons, like the faster development time for quick programs. It's really easy to create a program that will transfer data from a tab delimited file to a database (say, if a company was using spreadsheets to keep track of data - more common than it should be). However, that's assuming the programmer will be doing this as a career and professional programmers will learn multiple languages throughout their career.


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## jesraelo (Nov 29, 2007)

very simple and effective, this book worked for me 18 years ago and it is still considered as one of the best books to start learning C
After all it was written by the greatest of all times...

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/Dl4All/C-Programming-Language.jpg

amazon has this book and I believe it is still around 20 bucks...


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