C: The Complete Reference, 4th Ed. Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Having come across Schild's book when starting out as a programmer I
believed it to be one of the best I've read. In this respect it is
very good for a beginner, but searching now for a reference manual
(I've misplaced the misnomer: "C, A Complete Reference") as a
more experienced programmer I realise this is really a
tutorial.
Comparing it against other C reference books I now see the
deficiencies. Schild's book tries to be all things to all men:
oOo
Tutorial: A very chatty manner as it leads you through the workings of
each area, I like the description of "make", albeit brief.
oOo
Reference manual: It covers most of the C language, but there is
incomplete coverage of the C language (eg errno, and bzero).
oOo
Algorithm book: It describes the use of Artificial Intelligence, but
this is such a huge area it only wets the appetite. A reader
attracted by these areas would better off buying a book which
concentrates on these areas specifically and in greater depth.
I was
disappointed to discover the third edition of this book had the C++
overview removed. The new section, "a C interpreter", which I
suspect is to pad out the book after removing the useful chapters from
previous editions is practically useless. It would have been better
to write something similar to Steel's coverage of writing 'clean C'
where a C program runs in a C++ environment to distinguish the
conflict areas between C and C++.
Another failing of Schild's book
is the all too brief coverage of some areas summarised with the cop
out "consult your manufacturer's manual for details".
In the
format of a good reference book, Schild lays down many parts of the C
language under function headings such as "signal". However,
towards the end of each description is a section entitled "see
related functions" with an incomplete list of references; for
example under "signal" it is "raise", but missing
"ssignal, psignal, gsignal". Instead of spreading descriptions
around like this it would be easier to read if related functions were
grouped under a similar heading, so the reader isn't distracted
searching for them.
Schild's book has moved from discussing C in a
DOS environment in his first edition to a Windows environment in the
third edition. Although Schild does cover UNIX, the platform where C
originated, he has skimmed the surface like a pebble across a
pond.


Click Here to see more reviews about: C: The Complete Reference, 4th Ed.

Another gem from Herb Schildt--best-selling programming author with more than 2.5 million books sold! C: The Complete Reference, Fourth Edition gives you full details on C99, the New ANSI/ISO Standard for C. You'll get in-depth coverage of the C language and function libraries as well as all the newest C features, including restricted pointers, inline functions,variable-length arrays, and complex math. This jam-packed resource includes hundreds of examples and sample applications.

Click here for more information about C: The Complete Reference, 4th Ed.