Learning too write in C

[jaymon333]

Hello,

I am a grade 10 student who know absolutely nothing about C. My theory about C at the moment is that you write in in Notepad and that you can create scripts that form programs?

I was wondering if anyone knew of any free software/programs/websites that could teach me to lean C starting from the VERY BASICS. I would like to start out small and work my way up,.

So can anyone explain exactly what C is? What cool things can you do with it? What is it most commonly used for in the Work area? And how can I start out learning it from the bare basics?

Thank you very much, all comments and replies are greatly appreciated!

P.S I see Indexes about C tutorials and C++ tutorials. I'm confused, are c and c++ 2 different things, can anyone elaborate for me?

[rdrake]

jaymon333 @ Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:36 pm wrote:

I am a grade 10 student who know absolutely nothing about C. My theory about C at the moment is that you write in in Notepad and that you can create scripts that form programs?

You can write C code in Notepad and compile from the command line.

jaymon333 @ Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:36 pm wrote:

I was wondering if anyone knew of any free software/programs/websites that could teach me to lean C starting from the VERY BASICS. I would like to start out small and work my way up,.

For a compiler, there's a widely used one called GCC which can be found here. As for where to learn it from, a lot of places are pretty terrible. Consider giving wtd's handy dandy C Walkthrough a whirl if you absolutely must learn C, it's quite well done.

jaymon333 @ Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:36 pm wrote:

So can anyone explain exactly what C is? What cool things can you do with it? What is it most commonly used for in the Work area? And how can I start out learning it from the bare basics?

You can do pretty much anything with it. It's used a lot in operating systems and controlling hardware. You could pick up a book and start reading.

jaymon333 @ Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:36 pm wrote:

P.S I see Indexes about C tutorials and C++ tutorials. I'm confused, are c and c++ 2 different things, can anyone elaborate for me?

C++ is different than C, yes. C++ has oh so much more.

Seriously though, why C? You can learn a different language that would be a lot easier (and less frustrating!) in a fraction of the time then pick up C much more easily later if you so desire. Consider at least checking out the Ruby tutorials we have here.

[Tony]

If you know "absolutely nothing" about C, how did you come to a decision that you want to learn it? You'll get better responses if we know what your goals are here.

The general view you'll find here is that you shouldn't be jumping into C. At least not yet.

C is a programming language - same as everything else. (C++ is a different programming language.)

C is commonly known for it's low level access. The code could be more difficult and confusing to write, but it could run faster, especially if you are up against limitations. Such as programming microchips.

[haskell]

Actually guys... C is perfectly logical. It is a minimalistic programming language, remember. Putting those two together makes it easy to learn, difficult to master. In fact, its easy to make it to an intermediate level in C rather quickly. Its just that he more advanced parts of C are really advanced. Though to be honest, very easy to grasp once you know their use and background.

I started programming in C. I used the books:
- "How to Teach Yourself C in 21 Days"[This one is the gem of the series]
- "The C Programming Language 2nd Edition"
- "Deep C Secrets"[The best book I've ever read]

There are many online resources.

However, I honestly would not recommend C as a first language. Other languages like Ruby and Python are so much better choices for starting with.

[wtd]

Edit, compile, debug is something many of us take for granted, but it is a non-trivial barrier to entry. Further, the need to write an entire program and master input and output to see the result of simple expression evaluations makes for a less than pleasant learning environment.

There are a great many languages which one can recommend that will address these problems effectively.

• Scheme
  
• Ruby
  
• Python
  
• ...

Just to name a few.

[jaymon333]

What is a very simple to use compiler for a beginner that will compile C++ ??

thankyou ver much, all comments and replies are greatly appreciated.

[rdrake]

See my post above for a link to MinGW. It includes a C++ compiler (g++) as well.

[md]

The Tiny C Compiler (tcc) is a very full featured C compiler that's WAY faster then gcc; the downside is that it's supported on fewer operating systems (linux and windows only iirc). Oh, it's also not quite as useful for writing Operating Systems code... seems like it doesn't quite generate the right object files or something...