On Sat, 2007-01-20 at 02:27 +0530, Debarshi Ray wrote:
"Let Us C", nevertheless, a good book.
It is a horrible book. I strongly oppose the idea that one needs to begin with it. Just consider the fact that Yashwant Kanitkar teaches you the difference of: i++ + ++i + i++ and i++ + i++ + i++, which is simply undefined in the C standard and yet Kanitkar stresses on this, instead of telling the reader to avoid writing such code.
Let Us C is a great book. I had bought it only to learn about DOS routines for the mouse. Interrupt 33h I think =P Well anyway, the book is a good one for beginners. And the reason YPK has "stressed" on those notations i++ + ++i etc... is because any standard aptitude test paper of any company will have these "clever" hacks in them which confuses the normal student. The other books that you have quoted simply dont have such things because as you have pointed out, they aren't defined in the C standard and aren't a good practice.
Besides such examples help _normal_ students understand how exactly these operators work.
I started with Gottfried's book, and when I finally came to Let Us C, I found it sick.
No need for name calling. If you didn't like LUC, just state it. Absolutely no need for name calling.
Also, as Philip ( hope i spelt your name correctly ) pointed out, anybody wanting to learn a language should learn through examples, sources, take it apart, put it back, modify it, add to it etc... That is how one learns the best. But then again, to each his own! :)