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Comments from Readers Comments about the first edition can be found here. To add your own comments, please email me. I ordered K. N. King's "C Programming: A Modern Approach" (Second Edition) from Amazon for my recent birthday. Having had more birthdays than I care to admit, this gift to myself is right up there with a Lionel train set I got for my eighth birthday (not from Amazon, of course—it didn't exist that long ago but passenger trains sure did :)). In this second edition, I think that KNK is now the logical heir to K&R. That's not meant as blasphemy—Kernighan and Ritchie's still great volume is around 20 years of age and it's unlikely they'll be getting together for K&R3. The C language has undergone enough changes (with the amendment of 1994) and C99, that a "Modern Approach" really is needed. There's another author familiar to readers of the comp.lang.c newsgroup for his approachable, engaging writing style. That author is a wonderful writer but doesn't let the truth get in the way of good narrative. King, though, is an equally engaging writer but is obviously passionate about correctness and adhering to the C standard. He's also meticulous about portability so that the examples are written in pure C and not some platform-specific variant. I've read the entire book and can find hardly anything even nitpick. Aside from a minor style difference about using parentheses with the "sizeof" operator, which King explains his rationale for doing so, that's about it. His explanation of C99 (and the differences from C90 are clearly indicated) made me aware of some really nice features of the current standard for the language (and makes me wonder why one very notable compiler implementer hasn't yet supported C99). In short, get this book. The Q&A sections at the end of each chapter are very well done. The exercises and programming projects help to amplify the material presented. And King's examples will teach you more about barcodes and ISBN numbers than you ever thought possible. If you can appreciate the work of a fine craftsman in film such as Martin Scorsese, you'll find that King is of that caliber in the realm of lucidly dealing with this technical subject. —Bob Nelson I have recently acquired a copy of the 2nd edition of "C Programming: A Modern Approach" and I wanted to take the time to provide some early feedback. So far I can say that this is by far the most thorough, accurate, and carefully thought out book on C I have ever read, possibly even the best programming book I have read. The full coverage of C99 is refreshing and I like how the C99-specific features and discussions are neatly pointed out while still being integrated with the rest of the text. I appreciate the removal of the C++ section from the first edition and think the space was much better utilized in the second edition. I also appreciate the modern coverage of newer operating systems and gcc while not focusing too strongly on any one product or platform and clearly pointing out areas that are specific to one platform. The Q&A at the end of each chapter sets this book apart and the in-depth discussions and lucid explanations found therein really help solidify a deeper understanding of the language without overwhelming the novice with minutiae in the main text. The thoughtful use of short but meaningful examples and exercises engage the reader and are much more enlightening than the boring and contrived versions found in many other books. The great effort you have put into the revised edition is evident and I hope it experiences the success it deserves. —Robert Gamble

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