Modern C

Jens Gustedt wrote:In contrast to the ubiquitous presence of C programs and systems, good knowledge of and about C is much more scarce. Even experienced C programmers often appear to be stuck in some degree of self-inflicted ignorance about the modern evolution of the C language. A likely reason for this is that C is seen as an “easy to learn” language, allowing a programmer with little experience to quickly write or copy snippets of code that at least appear to do what it’s supposed to. In a way, C fails to motivate its users to climb to higher levels of knowledge.

This book is intended to change that general attitude. It is organized in chapters called “Levels” that summarize levels of familiarity with the C language and programming in general. Some features of the language are presented in parts on earlier levels, and elaborated in later ones. Most notably, pointers are introduced at Level 1 but only explained in detail at Level 2. This leads to many forward references for impatient readers to follow.