Can Novices Jump Directly in C? (YES)

[fu043 at zeus.unomaha.edu]

[a lot of previous discussion deleted]
> 
> K&R has got to be the worst book for learning C for a beginner that I have
> seen!  I used it to advance my knowledge, but it gave me headaches years ago
> when I wanted to learn the language.
> 
> The book by KELLY and POHL: TUBO C: The Essentials of C programming
> is one of the best I have ever seen (for the beginner).
> 
> Its method of explaining programs by dissection is excellent - voluminous
> details for each line a program.
> 
> The problems in each chapter are nice and easy adn complement the chapters
> extremely well.
> 
> There is no need to use TURBO C as there is very little that pertains to
> it specifically.  I believe there is also a product-nonspecific book
> available too.
> 
> Ray
> --
> University of South Australia   | Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.
> P.O. Box 1                      | Ghing thien me how, ming thien gung me how.
> Ingle Farm                      | Knobs, knobs everywhere,
> South Australia                 |              just vary a knob to think!

I am not a novice, but I am a novice to C.  I'm currently enrolled in an O/S
course in which I am required to write in C, and the recommended C book we use
seems to be exactly what the original poster is looking for.  It is called
"A Book on C" (second edition) and was written by Al Kelley and Ira Pohl.  The
book does not presuppose any prior knowledge of programming, and starts out with
the very basics - yet it is organized in such a way that anyone with prior
experience (like me) could look up directly what they wanted to know.  The
sample programs are quite simple, with excellant explanations.  I also very
much like the fact that there are optional sections dealing with some UNIX 
and Turbo C fundamentals, if one of those is the platform that C is running on.
I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to be used for an INTRO I and/or
INTRO II programming curriculum.  I wish my own school had used it instead of
having Pascal for its intro courses.  The ISBN number is 0-8053-0060-0.

Jim McMahon