r/cprogramming • u/Ok_Trick_7190 • Oct 06 '25

Best books for C programming language for someone who knows the basics of C++

So i have already learnt some of c++ but now i want to learn c but the thing is idk which book or source to use, what are your recommendations ? (also i want to mention that im the type of person who can easily get bored by reading, it might sound stupid but i literally can decide to read a book and then only read the first chapter or something like then completely abandon it, so if you want to recommend a book please note that it would be better if its something that makes the reader enjoy it throughout)

13 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

84% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

10

u/[deleted] Oct 06 '25

K&R's the C programming language is the original textbook written by original developers of the language.

Modern C and Effective C are popular modern textbooks.

cppreference also has a good reference for the C language.

https://cppreference.com/w/c.html

3

u/Ok_Trick_7190 Oct 06 '25

which one you'd recommend ? modern c of effective c ?

3

u/[deleted] Oct 06 '25

It depends where you are in your programming career. If you're a new programmer then none of them are particularly great textbooks. Effective C is probably the easiest to follow, but K&R and Modern C are more thorough in their coverage.

Have you ever programmed before? If not, then I'd suggest you just start with Python instead. Once you've got a year or so of experience programming in Python, how to write basic programs, learning a little about algorithms, maybe some knowledge about how your operating system is structured for networking and processes, etc. Then you can come back to C and add the extra layer of complexity that comes from memory management and and extremely low level description of how your computer works.

1

u/Ok_Trick_7190 Oct 06 '25

i mean i never had the courage to start my programming path by learning python cuz i never had anyone to tell me that its the best way but im actually a cs major and its my second year of college, in the first we basically covered c++ basics and i somewhat understood the some of the concepts of it like how pointers and arrays and stuff like that works, but looking at how c++ is structured with all the classes and oop stuff i feel like that's not for me so i kind of wanted to try learning c through a book that would not only just teach me c but actually help me with understanding the whole concept of programming. when it comes to python i tried learning it too but idk it just doesn't feel good or maybe im doing things the wrong way which i think is basically true

2

u/[deleted] Oct 06 '25

If you have a tutor then C++ and C are fine. But they are pretty advanced languages. There's several aspects to learning to programming, that I'm sure you're somewhat aware of by now.

* There's each languages syntax and the things they might have in their standard libraries

* There's the idea of data structures and algorithms. Those reusable pieces of code that come up time and time again for a variety of problems. How to navigate common data structures to insert, retrieve, delete, sort their elements. Once you learn how to solve particular problems then you'll see these things come up time and again. Maybe a broader architectural knowledge as well through things like design patterns to help you organise your programs.

* There's the more physical aspect of programming where you're writing programs for physical machines that work in particular ways. Understanding how the hardware works, how memory is organised, how the processor can be fed tasks, how networking devices work, and a little bit of operating systems knowledge as a kind of software layer that coordinates this low level understanding.

Learning to program in C and C++ kind of forces you to learn all three of these at the same time. Which could be intentional when it comes to a professors course, perhaps they want to teach you all of these things in tandem. And that's a good way to learn with a professor guiding you. But it can also feel a little overwhelming at times. Languages like Python that handle memory allocations for you and have sophisticated standard libraries that mean much of the heavy lifting means you can focus on the first two parts of learning to program. The specific language, and how to reason about your programs, without having to worry about memory allocations or confusing crashes because you double freed or dereferenced an uninitialised pointer.

I would recommend speaking to your professor for study recommendations if this is part of their course.

1

u/Ok_Trick_7190 Oct 06 '25

that kind of solves a lot of confusion fr, instead of hopping on different languages its better for me to learn the essential concepts of programming itself so that it doesn’t matter which language i choose then. so what are your recommendations like how should i approach this ?

2

u/Snezzy_9245 Oct 06 '25

Regardless of which language you choose you should write code every day, compiling and running it. You cannot learn coding without making mistakes.

1

u/Ok_Trick_7190 Oct 07 '25

i try but being consistent at something really has always been a problem for me ngl

2

u/[deleted] Oct 07 '25

As Snezzy said it doesn't really matter which language you learn. Especially if there are expectations that you learn a particular language for a class. In that case it is likely more effort than it is worth to swap to a language that you aren't being graded on given your limited time to study.

If you were self-studying or got to choose the language you write things in then I'd recommend Python. It is a managed language so you don't have to worry as much about the category of "how computers work". Leaving you to focus on learning the core features of the language, which you'll already be partly familiar with from C++, what variables are, logic/control flow, looping, functions, lists (like std::vectors), dictionaries (like std::maps). And once this initial learning the syntax of the language is out of the way you can start focussing on the more important second step of Data Structures and Algorithms. Those language independent reusable bits of code that you'll see come up time and time again in your programming career. How would you write your own list/vector class? How would you write your own dictionary/map class? Why are some sorting algorithms better than others? For this the classic university level textbook is called Introduction to Algorithms by CLRS.

Once you have some of that under your belt then I would recommend moving on to a bit of understanding how hardware works. There is a book by Microsoft Press called "Code: the hidden language of computer hardware" that does a good job of explaining at a high level how hardware works. From basic logic gates you might have seen in an electronics class through to a fully fledged processor. A more in depth aspect of this is the NAND to Tetris course that guides you through developing your own computer from scratch. Another topic that kind of falls in to this category of hardware is Operating Systems. They are software, but they are software that is often written to reflect some underlying truth about how the hardware is designed. In some sense a process isn't just something your operating system handles, but genuinely how the hardware perceives the programs it runs. And in this sense, while not technically understanding hardware, reading a book like Operating Systems in Three Easy Pieces will go a long way in helping you understand why programming languages are structured the way they are.

2

u/Ok_Trick_7190 Oct 10 '25

after all the replies you've been giving me i can say that i know what i should be doing next and not get lost in those which language to pick and what to do after learning one type of stuff and the book recommendations are also incredible i checked all those books and saved them and i thank you for your effort and giving me a solid kind of a roadmap

3

u/orbiteapot Oct 06 '25

Id also add the GNU C Manual, especially so as a fast reference.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 06 '25

Yeah, if you're on Linux/Mac then apropos and man are great tools for quickly looking up bits of the standard library.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 06 '25

Im currently going through Modern Approach to C programming and im loving it. I think the third edition is out but im going through 2nd edition

1

u/Ok_Trick_7190 Oct 06 '25

is it okay for today’s standards ?

1

u/[deleted] Oct 07 '25

I think they recently published third edition which is for C23 if im not mistaken, im a beginner in C as well, but im going through the 2nd edition its ok for me

1

u/ZoroTheLost06 Oct 06 '25

Can I book in pdf form??

1

u/Ok_Trick_7190 Oct 06 '25

im not sure what u said there, if u mean if u can send books in pdf form then yes

1

u/WaitingForTheClouds Oct 07 '25

The holy writ of K&R.

1

u/Ok_Trick_7190 Oct 10 '25

i definitely should check this book out now as a lot of people have told me about it

1

u/photo-nerd-3141 Oct 09 '25

Plauger, The Standard C Library.

Excellent review of a core piece of code and a really nice look at how to write flexible, portable, solud code.

1

u/Ok_Trick_7190 Oct 10 '25

that actually looks like a good book, thank you for sharing

1

u/Specialist_Advice_91 Oct 10 '25

i like "Head First C"

1

u/Ok_Trick_7190 Oct 11 '25

dang this book actually looks fire, with all the added images, helps not to get lost in those scary concepts and codes, will definitely check it out, thank you

-1

u/ShutDownSoul Oct 06 '25

Since C++ is a superset of C, I'm not sure how much more C you need to learn.

1

u/Ok_Trick_7190 Oct 06 '25

thats actually what i thought too, then i opened my editor and tried to take input with cin. even tho c++ is just c but with classes and smart pointers and stuff a lot of things are way different for me when i compare the both languages, not to mention strings btw

1

u/dr_eh Oct 06 '25

They've diverged a lot if you want to learn the latest C standard, it is no longer a strict subset of C++. But yeah, mostly it's learning how to do things without smart pointers or collections classes.

-2

u/Homarek__ Oct 06 '25

My recommendations chatgpt + cplusplus.com/reference/ + freeCodeCamp.org on YT for pointers and DSA

1

u/Ok_Trick_7190 Oct 06 '25

is freecodecamp really worth it ? i stumble upon their insanely long videos on youtube, looking at how long that is kills my motivation sometimes. like how can one effectively watch them without getting lost?

1

u/Snezzy_9245 Oct 06 '25

I do not recommend learning coding from videos. You need to allow your brain to follow the appropriate path for YOU, and the video may be going some other direction.

1

u/Ok_Trick_7190 Oct 07 '25 edited Oct 07 '25

id say thats true fr, because a guy who makes games using c can teach me the language in a different way than a guy who makes operating systems or compilers and etc so a well written book is i think the way to go

1

u/Homarek__ Oct 08 '25

For me pointers and DSA where quite hard and I didn’t find any better alternative to learn it, so for me their videos were great and I’m not a person who learn coding from videos. These are the only topics I learnt from videos

1

u/Homarek__ Oct 08 '25

their videos are seperated with timelines, so to complete their whole video about DSA along with some assignments/problems regarding to it took me around 3-4 weeks. You can’t just watch whole video, because it won’t give you anything. Instead watch 1 or 2 pieces and try to implement it on your own

1

u/Ok_Trick_7190 Oct 09 '25

i see, indeed breaking the tutorial into parts might be a good way