Reviews for Sams Teach Yourself C in 21 Days

1. Don't buy this if you are serious about learning C

   Rated 1 out of 5 stars, September 12th, 2004

   This book is truly awful: it's full of mistakes, takes a rather patronising tone, uses the terrible "type now, learn later" method of teaching, and is about 700 pages longer than it needs to be.
   There are 200 pages at the back called "Bonus weeks" which contain very little information and are only there as a ploy to make you buy more SAMS books.
   This book could be helpful to a total beginner at programming, but if you've done any programming before (Pascal etc.) then it shouldn't be bought.
   The worst thing about these books is the that they are full of mistakes - and this is the sixth edition! It should be expected that there would be a few spelling mistakes, but there is no excuse when the source code doesn't compile and the DO/DON'T boxes have, quite frankly, comical errors (eg. "Don't comment unnecessarily eg. //The following prints Hello World: printf("Hello world);" - This code would just give you an error, that's why you shouldn't comment it.) There is an error on almost every page, often making the text nonsensical and hard to follow.
   The chapters on pointers (very important) are spread around and never really point out why you should use them: This is unacceptable in a book about C.
   If you want to learn C then get "The C programming language" by Kernigham and Ritchie - they invented the language, so they know what they are talking about.
   This book is only useful as a door stop.

2. Great

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, August 12nd, 2004

   OK. So i baught this book because of the reviews. Im one 'week' into the book and so far, it's been great. Easy to understand and easy to use. Apart from the fact that the book misses out the line system("PAUSE"); in every example - it's the brilliant book the others say it is.

   I'd reccomend it to everyone who wishes to learn C. It's a great help if you then go on to lean C++ as i will do.

3. Suprisingly Useful.

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, August 12th, 2004

   Most books which claim to teach you a language in '21 days' or '24 hours' are less than satisfactory. On the recommendation from a friend, however, I bought this book and was pleasantly surprised! It covers everything from the basics to quite advanced topics, while always keeping the material immediately understandable. The writing style is informative, and you never feel thatyou are reading filler pages.

   The bonus chapters are also good. They give you taster introductory lessons of Java, C++ and C#. Whilst they will not by any means teach you these languages, they help in determining which way you will take next.

   The CD is what gives this book its fifth star. It contains all of the source code, in which I found no bugs, and also very useful utility programs including the Dev-C++ IDE which I found extremely useful.

   Note, however, that whilst this may teach you the rules of the language in 21 days, as with all languages it may take more than a year to gain the experience to competently write efficient, stable, and fast code. Just a thought.

4. Teach Yourself C in 21 Days

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, November 12th, 2003

   What can one say? I havent't even finished it yet and already I'm blown away. As a progressing beginner who came back to C after learning pocket C for Palm OS, I was a bit unsure if this would be any better than other 'beginners' books' I've tried. I made the decision to buy it and I'm glad I did. Not only has it shown me lots of new concepts (in a manner that while fairly serious, is anything but dry), but I've learned to see things I thought I'd already got the hang of in a whole new light. Each section has a series of questions in the shape of a quiz and a 'type and run' section with test code to compile and run. These things definitely make all the difference and prevent you losing heart. I gave it five stars desipte the typos, because the authors have succeeded in creating a book that is both informative and engaging (rather than entertaining) at the same time. I wish I'd had teachers like this book at school.

5. Outstanding Value

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, February 12th, 2001

   I am in total agreement with all the other reviews, this book has been well written and has made C more understandable to me, I have now ordered the Advanced C, DONT LET ME DOWN!!

   BUY IT NOW!!

6. Fun to frustrating

   Rated 3 out of 5 stars, January 12st, 1999

   This book starts off excellent, giving the user the belief that C is easy, etc. In fact, it is not easy and you need to have some programming experience before attempting this book. For the first 5 days no experience is necessary, but this changes quickly

7. An Excellent Tutorial!!!

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, September 12th, 1998

   This is the first C programming book I read. I still recall the excitement I felt when I run the first code example in the book and saw "Hello World" displayed on the screen.

   1) The authors present the key concepts in C language, such as pointers and arrays, in a concise and easy-to-understand manner.

   2) The many code examples (with analysis) in the book enable the readers to better understand the language features. More importantly, they can get a feel on when and how to use these features.

   3) The programs are fun to run, and the pace of the book is easy to follow. I finished the book (including most of the exercises) in 21 days.

   I highly recommend it to everyone who wants to learn C.

8. Very comprehensive but too complicated

   Rated 3 out of 5 stars, August 12th, 1998

   This book is good and will teach you a lot. But at many points i felt like giving up because it is easy to get lost as it is too complicated.

9. Not so good but it introduces the overall of C language

   Rated 3 out of 5 stars, August 12th, 1998

   For the first chapters it was exicting. After that it got hard and a bit complicated. But you get to stick to it, because only this way you' ll be able to understand the process about teaching yourself. DISCIPLINE is the word ! When you done with the book , go out and get another C book , you may increase your knowledge by seeing other methods of teaching by book, methods adopted by other C writers ! So take your chances !!!! The book is fare ! NO PAIN NO GAME !

10. An easy to follow, comprensive tool for learning C.

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars, July 12th, 1998

    An excellent example of Sam's Teach Yourself series, TYC in 21 Days is perfect for those who want to get into the field of computer programming. This book offers a chance to learn the basics of C (which is an extremely useful language in and of itself, as well as a gateway to learning other popular languages such as C++ and Java) in an easy-to-understand format. Everything you learn here will prove invaluable in a career of programming. If I had to recommend a first book to buy for the aspiring coder, this one would be it.