[Cialug] Learning the 'C' language

[Dave Weis]

Nathan C. Smith wrote:
> For programming.  I could get what I need from a book, but I need an 
> instructor to help me stay on task.  I have the K&R book.
> I know a smattering of other things.  All languages have similarities in 
> program flow and branching.  A review of basic syntax and variable-types 
> then a dive into 'C' uniqueness and data structures would suit me best.  
> Linked lists, pointers hash tables,  hmm starting to sound like a data 
> structures class.

That's the beauty of straight C, none of those useful things like linked 
lists and hash tables exist by default. That is one benefit of using the 
Gnome glib or the C++ standard library. Less reimplementing of 1st year 
computer science exercises.

> What I would be even more interested in is the environment around C in 
> Linux.  GCC and make and the C libraries.  ...  The stuff you need to 
> know to contribute to a project.  Malloc, threading.

That part is more fun, multithreaded programming is a beast unto itself. 
If I can guess, I know which project you are wanting to work on. Memory 
allocation and deallocation is another thing that is nice to black box.

dave