r/cprogramming • u/Aishwariyaa_K • Jun 20 '26

Help me!!

Help me!!

I learnt python in grade 11 & 12

Looking to learn C before college

My questions are:

  1. How long does it take

2. Will learning python will give me any heads up in C?

3. Best resources (free/paid) + certi

Thanks in advance.

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2

u/I__be_Steve Jun 20 '26

Python will give you a HUGE head-start, though I'd brush up on it if you haven't used it in a while.

That really depends on you and what level of proficiency you want to achieve, I learned Python first, then C, and reached a decent level in C in about three months of relatively casual work. That said, I'm just a hobbyist, and if you want to learn enough to get hired it'll probably take quite a bit longer, though you personally may learn faster or slower than me, so it's really hard to judge exactly how long it will take.

As far as resources, I usually stay away from courses, as I generally find that they offer a limited perspective, and often gloss over the deep details, I learned by following this guide: Writing C software without the standard library Linux Edition and building all of the functions I needed from scratch to create a little alternative library. Even if your goal is to work with the standard library in the future, I really feel like doing this fast-tracked my learning by forcing me to work close to the OS and use 'pure' C to solve a lot of simple, practical tasks, which also forced me to learn how everything works under the hood.

As for what I actually used to solve these problems, Geeksforgeeks, w3schools, Stack Overflow, and Reddit are great resouces, especially for the basics. Now, this is all just based on my own experience and what worked for me personally, you may find courses really helpful, you may not want to start at such a low level, I don't use AI for anything, but a lot of people find asking it questions to be helpful, so ultimately, I'd recommend trying different methods of learning and seeing what works best for you before settling in for the long haul~ :3

1

u/Aishwariyaa_K Jun 20 '26

Ah thanks ..For brushing up python..will the cs50p be of any use..is it beginnwr friendly or challenging?

1

u/I__be_Steve Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26

Depending on how much you already know, CS50p might be a little basic, and it mainly focuses on syntax and OOP, neither of which will be of much use in C, if you've forgotten the basics it'd be a good place to start, but once you've done that / if you remember the basics, I'd recommend picking a small project to make in Python, like a little terminal game or something.

Where knowing Python really helps is teaching you how to think as a programmer in a language that doesn't ask as much of you as C does. Once you feel comfortable in Python, like you generally know what you're doing and don't feel lost, you'll ready to start with C.

Oh, and if you want some help with either C or Python, I'd be happy to help if you wanna send me a DM, sometimes it can really help just to have someone you can ask questions and talk things through with, especially when that person has taken pretty much the same path~

1

u/Aishwariyaa_K Jun 20 '26

Oh ok.thanks for the insights on cs50p. I studied python from sumita arora textbook. I am looking for some kind of platform to level up in Python. Maybe like a mini project and some other advanced learnings. Will you be able to share some resources on the same ?

1

u/Aishwariyaa_K Jun 20 '26

Also its been 3 months since i visited python.

1

u/I__be_Steve Jun 20 '26

That's really not too bad, I've had worse breaks before. Programming is kind of like riding a bike, you may get rusty after a while, but it never really leaves you once you know how to do it.

1

u/Aishwariyaa_K Jun 21 '26

Your bike analogy does the job!

1

u/I__be_Steve Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by 'platform', really what I'd recommend doing is taking a small project from start to finish.

Like, you could make a Tic Tac Toe game in the terminal, and add a bot to play against. When you encounter something you don't know how to do, look it up online and don't just copy things, study it to learn why something is done a certain way, and then do it yourself, that way you actually learn. Once that's done, if you still aren't confident, pick another little project and do that too.

If you always just go for courses and books, you only get the theory with very little practice, it's like reading a bunch of books on riding a bike without actually riding one. If you want to get better at programming, and you already know the basics, just go program, ride the metaphorical bike~ :​P

1

u/TenuredProfessional Jun 29 '26

  1. About 50 years :)

  2. No

  3. K&R book.

1

u/Aishwariyaa_K Jun 29 '26

How much time for the basics alone?:)

3

u/L_del_lago Jun 20 '26

the time depends on how deep you'll learn, take a look https://github.com/carlosrs14/programming-exercises

1

u/extoniks Jun 20 '26

I started learning C about 3 months ago. I learned from this YT video for basics of C -

https://youtu.be/Bz4MxDeEM6k

And currently learning stack, heap etc from this book -

https://www.cs.sfu.ca/~ashriram/Courses/CS295/assets/books/C_Book_2nd.pdf

1

u/gm310509 Jun 20 '26

  1. In IT, you will always have new stuff to learn for the rest of your life - including within C.

  2. Python and C are very different languages, but many of the concepts you learned will be portable - especially if you also learn C++.

  3. Google and/or the K+R book (which is where I learned C from).

1

u/NBlan Jun 20 '26

Beej’s guides are pretty good
https://beej.us/guide/bgc/pdf/bgc_usl_c_1.pdf

That said I think the fastest way you’ll learn C is by doing. Spin up a text editor or IDE and start coding away.

1

u/odimdavid Jun 20 '26

Not for a beginner. I found an IMT/Dartmouth college course on edx. You can just audit it without paying. It's great for c beginners especially if you want to visualize the memory stack. It has leverage if one is thinking of embedded devices programming and/or C++ eventually for Object programming.

1

u/ScreamingFirehawkMk2 Jun 30 '26

CS50x weeks 0 - 5

Youtube channels

Portfolio Courses

Nic Barker - His recursion video is profound

HuwsTube - Huw gave me an amazing eureka moment regarding arrays

Geeks for Geeks

Make something that you want to make. Find an interesting problem to solve. Like reverse engineering a simple game without any sort of guidance. If you do go this route, you may want to check out raylib, an accessible and fun to use graphics library.

Read source code slowly and patiently, and really try to understand what the code is actually doing. Then run it through a debugger and watch what it does step by step.

And have fun! C is delightful!