From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Jan 7 21:39:57 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 43CFF16A41F for ; Sat, 7 Jan 2006 21:39:57 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from keramida@ceid.upatras.gr) Received: from rosebud.otenet.gr (rosebud.otenet.gr [195.170.0.94]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7BA8843D4C for ; Sat, 7 Jan 2006 21:39:56 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from keramida@ceid.upatras.gr) Received: from flame.pc (patr530-a221.otenet.gr [212.205.215.221]) by rosebud.otenet.gr (8.13.4/8.13.4/Debian-8) with ESMTP id k07Ldef6003742; Sat, 7 Jan 2006 23:39:40 +0200 Received: by flame.pc (Postfix, from userid 1001) id CCFDD1155E; Sat, 7 Jan 2006 23:38:16 +0200 (EET) Date: Sat, 7 Jan 2006 23:38:16 +0200 From: Giorgos Keramidas To: JD Arnold Message-ID: <20060107213816.GA2286@flame.pc> References: <200601021656.33323.nb_root@videotron.ca> <20060103155314.11865.qmail@web33315.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Programming Book(s) X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 07 Jan 2006 21:39:57 -0000 On 2006-01-07 15:25, JD Arnold wrote: >Danial Thom wrote: >>--- Nicolas Blais 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.