Preface to the First Edition

I l @ ve RuBoard

C was a relatively little-known language when we wrote C Primer Plus in 1984. Since then, the language has boomed. Although we don't claim that our book caused the boom, it is true that the book has helped many people learn C. Now that C is getting a new standard (ANSI C), we felt it was time for a new C Primer Plus. So here it is, now titled The Waite Group's C Primer Plus.

What's new with this edition? Here are the main changes:

Completely revamped text to bring the book into accord with the ANSI C standard. This standard was developed by a committee of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in response to a need created by C's success and its spread to a variety of computer platforms. The standard is scheduled for final adoption soon.
Revised examples, figures, and explanations .
New order of presentation, based on reader feedback.
Expanded coverage of C topics, including bitwise operators, enumerated types, and the C preprocessor.
More complete discussion of functions from the C library.

We've also retained much from the earlier editions. In particular, we've kept the philosophy that the book should be a friendly, easy-to-use, self-study guide, as is reflected in the following points:

We don't assume that you are a professional programmer. We explain programming ideas along with the C language.
We emphasize an interactive approach. Because you learn by doing, we often use short, easily typed examples that illustrate just one or two concepts at a time.
We clarify ideas with figures and illustrations.
We summarize the main C features in highlighted boxes.
We provide review questions and programming exercises so that you can test and improve your understanding of C.

Our goal in writing this introduction to C has been to make it instructive, clear, and helpful. To gain the greatest benefit, you should take as active a role as possible. Don't just read the examples. Enter them into your system and try them. C is a very portable language, but you may find differences between how a program works on your system and how it works on ours. Experiment ”change part of a program to see what the effect is. Modify a program to do something slightly different. Ignore our occasional warnings and see what happens when you do the wrong thing. Try the questions and exercises. The more you do yourself, the more you will learn and remember.

We wish you good fortune in learning C. We've tried to make this book meet your needs, and we hope it helps you reach your goals.

I l @ ve RuBoard