[.uk] C: The Complete Reference (Complete Reference Series) (ISBN 0078821010)

Stay away from Gerry S. Hayes:
(Helpful? Not? Please vote.) :: Mr. Hayes is undoubtedly a competent C programmer. This book isn't intended for him, nor anyone else who patently needs no introduction to the basics. For example: If you know and understand and can recognize fundamental differences between compilers (perhaps you've written a compiler or two yourself?) ... you likely don't need this book. If you know and understand different program extensions or have a nuts-n-bolts understanding of portability issues ... you likely don't need this book. If you're porting code across platforms in the first place ... I digress. I just hated to see the first review of this book rate it so poorly by being so obviously slanted or geared to the competent and experienced programmer ... Similarly, "Green Eggs and Ham" isn't really a Comparative Literature text either. This book is for new-ish programmers. I think it's specifically for undergrads who don't want to memorize the minutia of every single string function in C. Plain, vanilla C-code is all about syntax, order of operation and algorithms of the native functions. Most students understand how to solve labs on paper, but can't translate it to the infernal foreign language that is C-code. C is no mystery, and it's about exactness and handling every single possible input. It's also about reserved words, declaring and using data types and structures, and basically completing lab assignments, for the first 3 years or so. After that, C, C++, JAVA, whatever ... you know programming, and can find out what you need to complete any program in any language once you have the basics well in hand. Having taught at the University level, I find Schildt to be very good at making Sophomores out of Freshmen, and Juniors out of Sophomores. Beyond that, it's only a once-in-a-while grab to look up some small thing or another ... I used this book for undergrad and grad CS studies. It is THE preeminent reference for plain, vanilla C-language coding. It has data types, quirky ways compliers and loaders treat certain operations, and lots of "details" that you just can't and probably shouldn't remember unless you use them every day. This is the encyclopedia of C-language details, in a reference format; something lacking from K & R's books, which can have you searching and reading on a topic for some time, only to find an answer of limited utility. I do LOVE K & R's book(s), but it took a couple of years before I was fluent enough to really absorb their prose, which is no doubt, a more advanced treatment of what you can do with C. This "Schildt manual", as we called it in school, is more about HOW to do something, once you know WHAT you want to do ... This will not solve algorithm problems for you, per se, but if you're looking for the string operation that will make what your algorithm calls for easiest, they're all in here, explained with syntax and order of operations in plain English. I would hate to think what my undergrad years would have been like without this book. Worth the $$ at twice the price. (of course, people have found intermittent instances where this book was no help, or even outright wrong ... welcome to computer science and math ... ain't it grand?!?!? ... "Hilbert, meet Godel" :-) After an MS in CS, multiple applications and system level programming projects, several years in industry, and having taught introductory C-programming for 7 semesters, if I could have ONE and only ONE reference book on the C-language, this would be it. The "class time" instruction is available on any online C-coding tutorial ... the unforgiving nature of code/logic makes "correctness" imperative. Correctness is in the details. The details are in Schildt's C Reference, and they're easy to find ... thus, you can finish your lab, take a shower and make it to the party with all your friends, instead of sitting in the lab, sweating whether to use strtok() or strstr(), while your youth and "fun years in college" are ever more fleeting. Believe me, you have better things to do than try to solve a second year lab assignment using Kernighan & Ritchie ... ( K & R = "the authors", so reverently mentioned in several prior reviews, JIC that isn't common knowledge). Their books, and afrementioned reviews of this book, though correct in probably every way, are sort of like Microsoft Help Topic answers (Seebach's page contains rants from other would-be authors who seem to wish that they'd not only had the idea to write this book before Schildt, but also employed their many computer-geek buddies to help them edit it better as well. Neither happened.). To put K & R's work, as relates to the beginner, into the MS Help Page perspective: ( A helicopter was lost in the fog near SeaTac airport, radar was down, and they were flying blind. Suddenly, from the mist, appeared a large building. As people gathered by the windows to gaze at the helicopter, the passengers scrawled a sign for the onlookers, "Help! Where are we?". A few disappeared into the cubicle farm and returned with a sign reading, "You're in a helicopter!" The pilot promptly turned the chopper around, and said that's Microsoft headquarters, SeaTac is this way. "How can you know that?" they inquired. He replied, "I know it was Microsoft b/c that was a technically correct, but totally useless answer." ) That was the feeling I got early on while reading K & R. They now occupy a place of high importance in my library, but I could've held off on that purchase for some time ... just my opinion. Use Schildt until you get your parchment, then go off and organize a maverick and superior disposition of your own, like Schildt's detractors. The problems with the book are piddling compared to what it has to offer, and are unlikely to be an issue for it's intended audience.

The most updated C book on the market.:
First of all, it shoud be said that the C language is so widely used it's a shame that good and updated books no longer appears on the market. This book is an exception. To my knowledge, it's the only book that covers the latest additions from the last ISO/IEC 9899:1999 standard. This book covers (in addition to the traditional C89 standard): 1) restrict pointers. 2) the inline reserved word. 3) The new _Bool and bool types. 4) The new _Complex and _Imaginary reserved words. 5) The new "long long" integers for 64 bit integer arithmetic. 6) Variable lenght arrays. 7) Type qualifiers in array definitions. 8) Single line comments. 9) Mixed code / declaration style. 10) Variable arguments to macros. 11) The _Pragma operator. 12) Variable declaration inside for() cycles. 13) The new compound literals. 14) Flexible arrays inside struct members. 15) Delegate initializers. 16) Various additions and differences from the past standard. and, most importantly, it always underline when a concept apply to C99 only, when it apply to C89 and when it is usable in both standards. It also underline when something get in contrast with the C++ programming language. The difference between the two standards will be always clear. And, to my opinion, this is a *very good thing*. What matters the most is: this book will teach you C. It's not an advanced book nor a beginner book. It's intermediate. So, if you're looking for an updated book about the C programming language and you have programmed something before, get this book now and leave complaints to others. If you're searching for a pedantic syntax/semantic analysis for the C language, just buy the specifications. The last section of the book is fantastic to gain confidence with the language. While not C related, it teaches you how to solve common problems by using C in practice: a) Search and sorting. b) Queues, stacks, linked lists and trees. c) Sparse arrays with hash tables. d) Syntax analysis and expression evaluation. e) Some techniques used in artificial intelligence. An additional section covers the implementation of a small C subset interpreter!!! This book is not intended to be the most complete and advanced C book of the planet, but reading it surely it will contribute to your C knowledge and technical skills with it. Buy it without hesitation as a first book for this language. And don't skip more advanced books like "Expert C Programming" by Peter Van Der Linden, "C Traps and Pitfalls" by Andrew Koenig and "Memory as a Programming Concept" by Frantisek Franek.

Review for C The complete Reference by Herbert Schildt:
This is an excellent reference book for C programming. I have been programming in C for a year now and this book has proved to be a valuable addition to my collection of C texts. The book is not designed for persons who wish to start programming in C for the first time. However, even if you are a beginner in C this book will be a tremendous asset to you, especially as you become more advanced in the C language. The standard libraries are covered in detail and accompany lots of examples. Most of the concepts of the C language are explained clearly and are accompanied by suitable examples. There are some areas that are a bit vague but this is more than compensated for by examples. I recommend this book for anyone who wishes to program in the C language but note this book alone will not be enough. It is a 'must have' in your collection but to get a full understanding of some of the C concepts you will need to have more C literature.

Great product & service:
This was my first purchase from amazon and I was totally impressed by the quality of the product and the service!

Great once you know what you're doing.:
I got this book as one of my first for programming a few years ago. I was able to compile some programs and have a basic idea of how the language worked. But it was really hard absorbing all of the information with just this book. It was the only thing I had to learn programming at first. When I took a class in high school for C, all of the information really came together. I knew everything we did in that class and then some. But the information gets a little dry. This book does what it is supposed to, though. If you spent enough time with it, you could very well learn how to program. But for me, I couldn't read it front to back like I had wanted to as a new programmer. I suggest buying a companion book or taking a class before buying a reference book. After you learn how to think like a programmer, thats when you buy a reference book. Learning a language without knowing how to apply it was getting me nowhere. Great book though; I'm just throwing out a warning for anyone that is considering getting into programming, and using this as your first book.