Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Art and Science of C: A Library-Based Introduction to Computer Science by Eric S. Roberts ISBN: 0-201-54322-2 Publisher: Addison Wesley Publishing Company Pub. Date: 01 September, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $95.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.45 (29 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: The Library-Based approach does more harm than good
Comment: THE ART AND SCIENCE OF C was the textbook for the first-semester freshman college course on C programming at the university that I graduated from. It was a total disaster. The semester that followed (where we used the excellent A BOOK ON C by Al Kelley and Ira Pohl) consisted of unlearning virtually everything we had learned based on this book. The reason was that although the book claims to teach the reader how to program in C, it actually teaches the student how to program in Eric Roberts C, which is based on non-standard libraries that are completely different than the ones used everywhere else in the world.
The book is based upon several libraries designed to make things easier for the student. These libraries actually replace most of the standard C statements. Input/output is now done through these libraries, as are file handling, string functions and a host of other basic operations. The problem is that by replacing all these elementary processes the user is left learning nothing that is applicable to anything else outside of Eric Roberts C. In order to use any programming language at all, the student will have to go back to the beginning and learn most of everything over again. This will invariably lead to confusion as students struggle to determine which of the items they have learned are "real" C and which are the made-up items that have no usefulness. The similarity of the traditional and Roberts libraries result in quite a few mix-ups in syntax.
I have criticized the book's use of pointless libraries, but there are several things that it does well. There is a lot of good introductory material here for people who are unfamiliar with the bare basics of programming: loops (for, while, etc), conditionals, and syntax. By using the simpler libraries, the book teaches the student the basics of programming, if nothing of the specifics. This may well pave the way for the student to move on to learning real C, but for actually teaching the student anything that is useful, it fails and adds extra step that a novice programmer must go through before he/she can get to something that's informative and practical.
While in my personal library I kept almost all the Computer Science books that I used in my undergraduate days, this was not one of them, and was a book that I quickly sold back to the bookstore at the earliest opportunity. If you don't plan on using C in anything beyond what you learn here, then this book might be fine for you. If you want to learn C without having to relearn a lot of things later, avoid this one.
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent Introduction to Programming in C
Comment: Having originally come from a non-programming background, I found this book an excellent stand-alone introduction to programming in general. The use of libraries allows you to learn one aspect of the language at a time instead of throwing everything at you at once. By the end of the book, you've learned all the fundamentals thoroughly and you understand enough to write the libraries yourself. The libraries are good helper functions that I've found useful in my later code and even in my code at the industry level. (Practicing decomposition and code-reuse is essential for developing a solid, long-term programming style)
The book emphasizes good programming methodology rather than just concentrating on memorizing the syntactical. You can easily look up standard ansi C syntax in reference books like "The C Programming Language" by Kernighan and Ritchie (which I highly recommend), but you can't always find a book that covers basic programming concepts in general. The use of libraries instead of standard ANSI functions allows you to think flexibly, realizing that there are many levels of abstraction and that there are many ways of programming the same thing. This is especially beneficial when/if you go on to learn other languages. However, I would say that C is a good language to start out with because it encompasses more of the lower level details that may be hidden in other languages but are essential for understanding why your program works, isn't optimized, etc.
Once you've finished this book, you can easily ease into the second book in this introductory series, Programming Abstractions in C, which takes you to the next step in becoming a good programmer. It explains many standard algorithms liked hashtables, linked lists, etc. The two books combined build a solid foundation for programming in C and leave you prepared to go into more complex algorithms and other languages. I highly recommend this book (I always keep it close at hand).
Rating: 4
Summary: The Art and Science of C
Comment: I thought this was a wonderful beginners book. It gave me the basics and then allowed me to go on and try new things by myself. By the end I really felt like I could write my own programs in C.
I only gave it four stars because I am a harsh grader and its a textbook, so you can't give it five.
 |
Title:Turbo C++ Suite 1.0 ASIN: B00001YVHA Publisher: Borland International List Price(USD): $69.95 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $65.99 |
 |
Title: Programming Abstractions in C: A Second Course in Computer Science by Eric S. Roberts, Eric Roberts ISBN: 0201545411 Publisher: Addison Wesley Publishing Company Pub. Date: 01 July, 1997 List Price(USD): $105.00 |
 |
Title: Computers Ltd: What They Really Can't Do by David Harel ISBN: 0198505558 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
 |
Title: C Programming Language (2nd Edition) by Brian W. Kernighan, Dennis M. Ritchie ISBN: 0131103628 Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR Pub. Date: 22 March, 1988 List Price(USD): $42.00 |
 |
Title: Beginning Algebra, Ninth Edition by Margaret L. Lial, John Hornsby, Terry McGinnis, E. John Hornsby ISBN: 0321127110 Publisher: Addison Wesley Publishing Company Pub. Date: 28 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $100.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
