Hi. I am deciding between two beginning C books right now. One is "C for Dummies, Volume 1", the other is "Learn C in 24 hours". For those of you familiar with these texts, I have a question:

Which book should I buy?

Thanks

By the way, I've never programmed in any language before.

Hi!

I would suggest you to get both of the books but read the "c in 24 hours" first but out of the two i would suggest you should get
"c in 24 hours" because it gives more detailed information.

Hey thanks. I'll probably go ahead and get them both. So you've read both of them? What's your general impression the two books? I know which one you prefer of between the two, but how does either one compare to other books you've encountered? I've never programmed in any other language. Many people have said one should start programming in either Perl or Python and that C wasn't a good choice for newbs. I've tried Python, but it didn't really work out. I couldn't get many of the example programs from a web-tutorial to work. I even finally broke down and cut&pasted the stuff out of a text-editor into Python, but it still didn't take. I don't know if its all the spacing in Python or what. I'm probably just an idiot though. I thought it looked simple, but I guess I was mistaken. C is supposed to be harder, but for me it went over easier than Python. I looked at some web-tutorials for C, and learned how to do a basic input/output program,(I've since forgotten)and it was easier to do than the Python one.(as in, I actually got it to work)And I didn't see any books on Python(unlike C). As for Perl, both the language itself and all documentation I've seen, appear to be very *nix oriented. At one time, briefly, I've had a dual-boot Linux/Windows system. I just didn't take the time to familiarize myself with Linux. I plan on doing it one day. But as for now, I would rather spend my time learning a language as opposed to getting myself acquainted with another OS. I do plan on getting into Linux a bit more later, but for right now, I'd like to learn some good programming techniques in a familiar and comfortable environment. I'm sorry if I've overwhelmed you with questions, but it just isn't often that I get to converse with programmers. Thanks again for your advice.

(btw, would do you think about Java as a first language? How does it compare to C?)

I suggest "THE C PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE"
SECOND EDITION.
written by KERNIGHAN,RITCHIE.
PRENTICE HALL SOFTWARE SERIES.

as to your question about java and C there is not a whole lot of difference. Java can be seen as a updated C. Most commands are the same, but both are harder langueages to learn, but I would say go with C first. And as for the books I would say get one of them but play around with the language. Try and do different things that aren't covered in examples in the books, but do those examples. The best way to learn is to just play with a language

Thanks for the advice. Hopefully, I'll actually learn C some time this year. Wish me luck...

I read C for Dummies Volume 1 and I thought that it was a great book, but it has little programs to write. I haven't read any other C book yet though.