Practical C Programming: Solutions for modern C developers to create efficient and well-structured programs

Harwani

£9.99 per month

2.5 (2 Ratings)

Paperback Feb 2020 616 pages 1st Edition

Harwani

£9.99 per month

2.5 (2 Ratings)

Paperback Feb 2020 616 pages 1st Edition

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Key benefits

Tackle various challenges in C programming by making the most of its latest features
Understand the workings of arrays, strings, functions, pointers, advanced data structures, and algorithms
Become well-versed with process synchronization during multitasking and server-client process communication

Description

Used in everything from microcontrollers to operating systems, C is a popular programming language among developers because of its flexibility and versatility. This book helps you get hands-on with various tasks, covering the fundamental as well as complex C programming concepts that are essential for making real-life applications. You’ll start with recipes for arrays, strings, user-defined functions, and pre-processing directives. Once you’re familiar with the basic features, you’ll gradually move on to learning pointers, file handling, concurrency, networking, and inter-process communication (IPC). The book then illustrates how to carry out searching and arrange data using different sorting techniques, before demonstrating the implementation of data structures such as stacks and queues. Later, you’ll learn interesting programming features such as using graphics for drawing and animation, and the application of general-purpose utilities. Finally, the book will take you through advanced concepts such as low-level programming, embedded software, IoT, and security in coding, as well as techniques for improving code performance. By the end of this book, you'll have a clear understanding of C programming, and have the skills you need to develop robust apps.

Who is this book for?

This intermediate-level book is for developers who want to become better C programmers by learning its modern features and programming practices. Familiarity with C programming is assumed to get the most out of this book.

What you will learn

Discover how to use arrays, functions, and strings to make large applications
Perform preprocessing and conditional compilation for efficient programming
Understand how to use pointers and memory optimally
Use general-purpose utilities and improve code performance
Implement multitasking using threads and process synchronization
Use low-level programming and the inline assembly language
Understand how to use graphics for animation
Get to grips with applying security while developing C programs

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Maxwell O. Massa Jul 07, 2023

In reviewing books like this, it's important to hash out the reader's background first so others will be able to judge from what perspective he viewed the work. I am a beginner-level C developer, working on my own outside of any formal instruction, and this was the second book I've worked through (the first one was "Learn C Programming" by Jeff Szuhay (ISBN: 978-1801078450), also published by Packt). Given that profile, I found "Practical C Programming" by B. M. Harwarni to be an amazing "post-introduction" text that really thrust me into world of *possibilities* that C offers, while also offering some decent review of earlier content from Szuhay's lessons.To characterize the general feeling of this work, it provides a high-speed, almost violent acquaintance with a huge array of C's features and possibilities. It is critical to understand that this book lacks depth: most of the material in here is presented relatively briefly over the course of a chapter and then put down again, never to be reconsidered. Now, for someone like me who's working on his own and is trying to find a way to orient towards a project that might be bridge I need towards real competence, this was WONDERFUL: Jeff Szuhay's book did a good job of providing a structured, comprehensive introduction to the rudiments of the language, but - at the end of it all - I wasn't left with enough to begin imagining possibilities. Harwani fills that need by dragging me through such disparate topics as OpenGL integration, graph theory, MySQL structures and operations, Internet of Things (IoT) projects, and x86 assembly... among others. The first six chapters of the book (and parts of Chapters 11 and 14) also serve as a review of much of the ground covered in "Learn C Programming", which I actually found positive, but it would have been nice if this was done formally and deliberately.None of the new content is handled more than suggestively and superficially, but - as a result - the reader ends the book with the feeling that he has been dumped at a bewildering crossroads of possibilities, yet with an understanding of where each road would lead *if* he were to pursue it. I personally think that people teaching themselves would benefit particularly from this title: after reading Harwani's book, I realized that learning how C and MariaDB interact would be a critical next step for me, so I now know where I'm headed next. This is very valuable for people working on their own."Practical C Programming" has, of course, its flaws: they are tolerable, but should be mentioned. First of all, as a Packt title, is required by law to contain a large number of bizarre typos; while these are nowhere near as heinous as those that afflicted Szuhay's text, they're still really bad, particularly on pp. 291 and 410, where the prose description of the example code don't actually match the code itself, as presented. Secondly, and more importantly, the book is very Windows-oriented: people working in Linux, like myself, will be forced find workarounds for some of the units, particularly Chapter 6 (Linux does not distinguish between sequential and random files) and Chapter 17 (the Keil IDE used in this chapter is a Windows-only application). Finally, in spite of the fact that author urges the student to never use gets() in his or her code on page 562 because "it always creates a vulnerability", the book is otherwise full of gets() calls. Most modern compilers utterly refuse to process code that contains this function, so a certain amount of spot revision on-the-fly is needed on the part of the reader, which can get a little laborious. None of these issues are terrible in their own right, but they are irritations that could be effectively addressed in a second edition.In summary: it's a good book for what it is, assuming you're the sort of person who needs what it offers. I, personally, found myself very grateful for Mr. Harwani's work by the time I reached the end, but I would not endorse it without qualification. Think about what's good and bad here, and then make a carefully weighted decision with your eyes open. C is very important, but it is not easy. Personally, I am happy to take something imperfect, if it can help me make it to the next stage.

Amazon Verified review

Amazon Customer Dec 01, 2020

there is nothing practical like thing in this book. price is too high compare to content in book. normal c linux program with lengthy story.

Practical C Programming: Solutions for modern C developers to create efficient and well-structured programs

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