This book takes an approach that is close to the hardware, introducing addresses, pointers, and how things are represented using binary. An important idea is that everything is a bit pattern and what it means can change. As a C developer, you need to think about the way data is represented, and Harry Fairhead encourages this. He emphasizes the idea of modifying how a bit pattern is treated using type punning and unions. This power brings with it the scourge of the C world – undefined behavior - which is ignored in many books on C. Here, not only is it acknowledged, it is explained, together with ways to avoid it. 

A particular feature of the book is the way C code is illustrated by the assembly language it generates. This helps you understand why C is the way it is, and what effect your choice of code has. 

Author: Harry Fairhead
Publisher: I/O Press
Date: March 2019
Pages: 267
ISBN: 978-1871962604
Print: 1871962609
Kindle: B07RZ5RR35
Audience: Developers wanting to learn C
Level: Beginner/Intermediate
Category: C/C++

• Getting Started, NetBeans and GCC

• Control Structures and Data

• Variables

• Arithmetic and Representation

• Operators and Expressions

• Functions, Scope and Lifetime

• Arrays

• Strings

• Pointers

• Structs

• Bit Manipulation

• Files

• Compiling C – Preprocessor, Compiler, Linker

For recommendations of C books see  Top Choice C and C++ Books in our Programmer's Bookshelf section.

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