Essentials of System Analysis and Design or Expert C Programming

Expert C Programming

Author: Peter van der Linden

This is a very different book on the C language! In an easy, conversational style, Peter van der Linden, of Sun's compiler and OS kernel group, presents dozens of astonishing examples drawn from practical experience, including:

• Software that blew up the space probe to Venus
• The C bug that shut down the entire AT&T phone system
• C programmer job interview secrets
• Why programmers can't tell Halloween from Christmas day
• The C code for a complete BASIC interpreter

Expert C Programming reveals the coding techniques used by the best C programmers. It relates C to other languages, and includes an introduction to C++ that can be understood by an programmer without weeks of mind-bending study. Covering both the IBM PC and UNIX systems, it is an entertaining and educational romp through C showing how experts really use it. Expert C Programming is a must read for anyone who wants to learn more about the implementation, practical use, and folklore of C.

"Not just clearly written, but fun to read. The tone and style of this text should make this a popular book with professional programmers. However, the tone of this book will make it very popular with undergraduates. Appendix A alone would make the purchase of this book a must. It's filled with great advice."

—Professor Jack Beidler, Chairman, Department of Computer Science, University of Scranton

"So that's why extern char *cp isn't the same as extern char cp. I knew that it didn't work despite their superficial equivalence, but I didn't know why. I also love the job interview test questions on C."

—David S.Platt, Rolling Thunder Computing

"In Expert C Programming, Peter van der Linden combines C language expertise and a subtle sense of humor to deliver a C programming book that stands out from the pack. In a genre too often known for windy, lifeless prose, van der Linden's crisp language, tongue-in-cheek attitude, and real-world examples engage and instruct."

—John Barry, author of Sunburst, Technobabble, and other books

Table of Contents:

	Preface
	Acknowledgments
	Introduction
1	C Through the Mists of Time	1
2	It's Not a Bug, It's a Language Feature	31
3	Unscrambling Declarations in C	63
4	The Shocking Truth: C Arrays and Pointers Are NOT the Same!	95
5	Thinking of Linking	109
6	Poetry in Motion: Runtime Data Structures	137
7	Thanks for the Memory	165
8	Why Programmers Can't Tell Halloween from Christmas Day	201
9	More about Arrays	239
10	More About Pointers	263
11	You Know C, So C++ is Easy!	293
	Appendix: Secrets of Programmer Job Interviews	333
	Index	349