[clug] Learning C in a Unix environment

[Damien Elmes]

Brad Hards <bhards at bigpond.net.au> writes:

>> Mind you.  These books cover the language(s) in general and not any
>> specific libraries that you might want info on.
> Unless you actually plan to work in the kernel type space, I
> recommend using a C++ compiler, and learning C++. I quite like
> "Practical C++ Programming" from O'Reilly, although opinions on this
> book vary - worth it if you can find it cheap.

IMHO I think they'd be better off just learning C; maybe expanding to
C++ later if feeling suitably masochistic. Experience with some of the
more low-level aspects of the system such as libc etc will carry over
to many more OSS projects than C++ knowledge will - unless you're
interested in KDE programming, anyway.

And while this point might be contentious to some - I'd suggest that
there are very few situations where C++ is a better solution than
using a higher level language with performance critical portions
implemented as extension modules in something like C. It's possible to
craft secure and reliable applications in C++ - but it requires a lot
more energy than some of the alternatives out there.

(off on a tangent)

Cheers,
-- 
Damien Elmes