Product Description: A new and improved revision of the bestselling C language reference. This essential manual introduces the notion of "Clean C," writing C code that can be compiled as a C++ program, and incorporates the ISO C Amendment 1 (1994) which specifies new facilities for writing portable, international programs in C.
Amazon.com Review: You can find bigger books about C, but you won't find one as authoritative or helpful as this reference manual. Harbison and Steele have now gone through four editions and are beginning to cover language differences which can surprise the experienced C coder moving to C++. As always, the authors do an excellent job of explaining what's standard and what it replaces. No hairy syntax has been omitted, so this volume can make wending one's way through obfuscated code, if not pleasant, at least less miserable. Whether you learned C from Kernighan or some massive tome, you'll want this volume as your day-to-day reference. And you won't mind buying a new edition once in a while, because you'll have worn the old one out by then.
Nice Book This book contains nice layout of information on C Programming. A nice reference to have.
Best book on C99 Whilst I feel that K&R is a classic for C(89/90), it doesn't cover C99 at all. This is where Harbison takes over. It isn't quite in the same concise style. But it does serve well as both a clear description of the language and a reference. It's much easier to read than the ISO C 99 standard (which is also on my desk).
The Best This is the best reference on C out there. Yes, it is better than K&R, despite what others say. It is better organized, and has very concise examples on everything that may need explaining.
Simply Indespensible Compiler writers know a language the best, and H & S are compiler guys.
This book is within reach every time I work with C. It treats you like an adult - you can find the terms "scope", "visibility", and "extent" in the index - and the better you are with language theory, the better the book gets.
I have taught C at in-house classes at work and I gave the students copies of H & S, telling them that giving them this book was the best thing I was going to do for them during the entire course.
Exactly what it was advertised This book is an excellent reference for us C programmers who need a book on the shelf. It's not a learning book. I definitely recommend it.
Anything Goes Trivia
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