C Programming Absolute Beginner's Guide

C Programming Absolute Beginner's Guide, Third Edition


Updated for C11

PART I: JUMPING RIGHT IN


1 What Is C Programming, and Why Should I Care?


2 Writing Your First C Program

3 What Does This Do? Clarifying Your Code with Comments

4 Your World Premiere—Putting Your Program’s Results5 Adding Variables to Your Programs
6 Adding Words to Your Programs
7 Making Your Programs More Powerful with #include and #define


8 Interacting with Users


PART II: PUTTING C TO WORK FOR YOU


9 Crunching the Numbers—Letting C Handle Math for You10 Powering Up Your Variables with Assignments and Expressions


11 The Fork in the Road—Testing Data to Pick a Path12 Juggling Several Choices with Logical Operators


13 A Bigger Bag of Tricks–Some More Operators for Your Programs

PART III: FLESHING OUT YOUR PROGRAMS


14 Code Repeat—Using Loops to Save Time and Effort15 Looking for Another Way to Create Loops


16 Breaking in and out of Looped Code
17 Making the case for the switch Statement


18 Increasing Your Program’s Output (and Input)19 Getting More from Your Strings


20 Advanced Math (for the Computer, Not You!) .

PART IV: MANAGING DATA WITH YOUR C PROGRAMS


21 Dealing with Arrays22 Searching Arrays


23 Alphabetizing and Arranging Your Data
24 Solving the Mystery of Pointers


25 Arrays and Pointers
26 Maximizing Your Computer’s Memory


27 Setting Up Your Data with Structures

PART V: FILES AND FUNCTIONS


28 Saving Sequential Files to Your Computer29 Saving Random Files to Your Computer


30 Organizing Your Programs with Functions
31 Passing Variables to Your Functions


32 Returning Data from Your Functions


APPENDIXES

A The ASCII Table

B The Draw Poker Program

Greg Perry is a speaker and writer in both the programming and applications sides of computing. He is known for bringing programming topics down to the beginner’s level. Perry has been a programmer and trainer for two decades. He received his first degree in computer science and then earned a Master’s degree in corporate finance. Besides writing, he consults and lectures across the country, including at the acclaimed Software Development programming conferences. Perry is the author of more than 75 other computer books. In his spare time, he gives lectures on traveling in Italy, his second favorite place to be.

Dean Miller is a writer and editor with more than 20 years of experience in both the publishing and licensed consumer product businesses. Over the years, he has created or helped shape a number of bestselling books and series, including Teach Yourself in 21 Days, Teach Yourself in 24 Hours, and the Unleashed series, all from Sams Publishing.