Starting out with C

[Prince]

Well, since we've been seeing questions about programming, and getting started with it...

I've some minor exp in Pascal and then Delphi, but I've wanted to learn C.
I've considered learning Java, but... the thing is, I hate it with a passion.

Anyway, I picked up this book called "Teach Yourself C in 21 Days". I am not expecting to be a programming guru three weeks later, but I am hoping that this will teach me the basics in a pace that I can handle.

Has anyone read this book? Any other suggestions?

Since I'm used to using an IDE, I'm going to use either Borland's C++ BuilderX, or Visual Studio .NET, not sure which. Any recommendations would be welcome. Thanks.

[KnifeMissile]

If you go with VisualStudio, use vesion 6.0. It's less buggy!

If you already have some experience programming then your book will do fine, surprisingly. I mean, one can easily learn C syntax in 21 days. Now, learning how to program in 21 days...

Well, that's another story...

[Prince]

Yeah, I just want to learn the very basics at this point. C seems quite different from Pascal/Delphi.

[RelaX]

Originally posted by Prince

I've considered learning Java, but... the thing is, I hate it with a passion.

Finally, a likeminded person.

[KnifeMissile]

C is exactly the same as Pascal (I've never seen Delphi). More precisely, C is isomorphic to Pascal. So, if you're already familiar to programming in languages like Pascal, you should have even less than the very basics to learn!

[Yakk]

Pascal and C have a few cultural differences, and a few philosphical differences. But they are very similar.

First, Pascal tends to use keywords for structure, while C tends to avoid structureal keywords.

Ie, in Pascal, the 'content' of an if statement is between BEGIN and END, while in C it is between a { and a }.

A cultural difference between Pascal and C is how they deal with strings.

Strings in Pascal can be built in, and are often stored as 'length' then a buffer of characters.

Strings in C are a pointer to a buffer. The 'end' of the string is the first character whose binary value is 0.

Turbo (or Think or one of many enhancements) Pascal and C++ are both extensions to the base language. It is quite possible you have only written in an enhanced pascal.

The various enhancements to Pascal, and C++, also have a different set of cultural and philsophical differences.

But, in the end, the differences aren't all that large. You just might have different hoops to jump through along the way. =)

[Cuball]

Originally posted by Prince

I've considered learning Java, but... the thing is, I hate it with a passion.

Why whould you hate it ? You don't have any experience with it so don't judge it that fast !!

[Prince]

Originally posted by Cuball
Why whould you hate it ? You don't have any experience with it so don't judge it that fast !!

I've some experience with it, but very limited, so my opinion of it are based on what I am sure to professional or advanced programmers would seem as unfounded misconclusions, but for me, observations.

It's painfully slow. It's needlessly verbose (just compare 'print' to 'System.out.println', for example). The GUIs that can be produced with it are really fuckin' ugly. You can use it to create small apps that run slowly in a browser, for chats or slow db clients, but major desktop applications? Or even powerful system tools? Forget it.

[Cuball]

You do have a point about the GUI issue, it can be slow, but they are working on that ! But Ugly ? You have to set the looks windows a like (don't know the exact thingy) and then you can create gui's that just look like normal GUI applications (VB) but fat clients isn't everything you know... what about J2EE ? widly used in n-tier applications

[mgcloud]

Originally posted by Prince
It's painfully slow. It's needlessly verbose (just compare 'print' to 'System.out.println', for example). The GUIs that can be produced with it are really fuckin' ugly.

(Emphasis, obviously, mine)

I agree 100% with this statement. One of the things that turned me off Java was

itsIncrediblyLongAndConvolutedFunctionNamesThatAreImpossibleToRemember();

My experience coding in java has not been enjoyable at all. thoseDamnFunctionsAndClasses take too long to type, especially if you don't remember them. I mean ... "ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException"?!

I mean, I agree that in some ways it's a good thing to have some sort of syntax that's somewhat easy to remember (as opposed to asm), but Java's *way* across the line. I prefer stuff like c, which I actually prefer to code in. Call me crazy, but I'd take pointers and crazy typecasting over longAssPointlessFunctionNames() any day =)

I do recognize Java's strengths though - namely that it's multi-platform, and therefore I can play online games with other people (being as I'm on Linux ) Stupid Macromedia and its Shockwave..........

[WarWagon]

If you're looking for some reading material, there's a book called "How to Program C" by Deitel that covers C, C++, and some Java.