Date: Sun, 08 Jan 2006 09:40:59 -0500 From: JD Arnold <jdarnold@buddydog.org> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Programming Book(s) Message-ID: <dpr897$67q$1@sea.gmane.org> In-Reply-To: <20060107213816.GA2286@flame.pc> References: <200601021656.33323.nb_root@videotron.ca> <20060103155314.11865.qmail@web33315.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <dpp82f$8ma$1@sea.gmane.org> <20060107213816.GA2286@flame.pc>
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Giorgos Keramidas wrote: > On 2006-01-07 15:25, JD Arnold <jdarnold@buddydog.org> wrote: >> Danial Thom wrote: >>> --- Nicolas Blais <nb_root@videotron.ca> wrote: >>>> On January 2, 2006 04:52 pm, Sean wrote: >>>>> Sean wrote: >>>>>> Looking for recommendations on any Unix programming books. I have >>>>>> been out of things for a while so I would put my skill level back >>>>>> to the beginning. >>>>> I forgot to mention that I wish to work withC/C++ >>>> There's a free C++ book which is great: >>>> http://mindview.net/Books/TICPP/ThinkingInCPP2e.html >>>> You can also buy the hardcopy on Amazon. >>> I'd recommend learning C before C++. In order to be an effective unix >>> programmer you must master the C language, as you'll have to examine >>> and modify code in C to do anything substantial. Virtually all major >>> programs and kernels are 'C' based. >> I think, in general, this is wrong. > > I think, in general, this is right. > >> And I think many "professionals" also feel that learning C++ is the >> way to go. If you just learning, you might as well start with >> C++. For many good reasons, see Stroustrup's answer himself: >> >> http://public.research.att.com/~bs/learn.html > > Which essentially boils down to "learn C++ it's better and easier to > learn". I very much disagree, but this is another flamewar, I guess. > > Danial is right that there are many large programs out there that are > written in C, not C++. This means that just learning C++ and hoping to > "cope with it" when an 11,000,000-line monster, written in plain C, > comes along is just not going to cut it. > > Thus, "learn both" is a good answer, but I understand that this may be > quite impossible some times. Jeez, you make it sound like the difference between C and C++ is like the difference between learning English or learning Russian. I find it difficult, if not impossible. to believe that someone who knew C++ would be in any way shape or form be forced to "cope" with any gazillion line C program. They'd probably be itching to do it better and more safely, but if they were even the slightest bit proficient in C++, they'd know pretty quickly what was going on in any C program. And the opposite is absolutely not true. -- Jonathan Arnold (mailto:jdarnold@buddydog.org) Daemon Dancing in the Dark, a FreeBSD weblog: http://freebsd.amazingdev.com/blog/ UNIX is user-friendly. It's just a bit picky about who its friends are.
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