C Review

[BryanJT]

In article <2313 at brl-adm.ARPA>, Peter at adm.UUCP writes:
> I am currently finishing up a new text book on C with a colleague
> of mine and we just received the last of several technical reviews.
> This particular reviewer makes some statements that we find hard
> to accept...

As a professional C programmer, I thought I'd give you my "off the cuff"
analysis.

> "... 95% of all C programmers couldn't give you a good
> explanation of the term lvalue..."

I'd be the first to admit that this might be true (I can't define it
personally in a way that makes any sense).  All the more reason to spend
time talking about what it means!

> "... Switch/case could be classified as rarely used and should be
> kept till later.

This, on the other hand, is total nonsese.  Get it in there early,
especially for those Pascallers who remember "case ... of ..."

> "... very few C programmers know much about sizeof..."

This is also nonsense.  Sizeof() is an important feature of the
language, especially if you want to do dynamic memory allocation.

> "... 99%  of  all  professional C  programmers  have no idea
> what typedef is all about, couldn't care less and probably
> won't ever need it."

Total garbage.  A very important feature of the language.

> "... 99%  of  all  professional C  programmers  have no idea
> what the comma operator is all about, couldn't care less and
> probably won't ever need it."
>
> "... Leave the comma operator altogether. An intro book is no
> place for obscure and unmaintainable tricks..."

Even if it were true, they're going to see it sometime and had better
know about it.  Don't sacrifice completeness for "their own good." 
Anyway, the comma operator is an often-used shortcut.

> 
> "... Pointers to functions ... few C programmers understand
> them or would ever need them..."

On the contrary, the better an explanation you can provide the more
useful your book will be.  Pointers to functions are one of the more
useful, and least understood, aspects of the language!

> "... a C programmer never needs to know what a byte is..."

What!!!???  What kind of nonsense is this?

-- 
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John T. Bryan              USENET:  ...!ihnp4!druhi!bryan
AT&T Information Systems   PHONE:   (303) 538-5172
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