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Some recommended (not required) books on the C programming language:

This unit focuses on the ANSI/ISO-C11 Programming Language.
While drafts on this most recent standard appeared in the mid-1990s, very few textbooks began to seriously focus on C99 until after 2005, and even fewer focus on C11 today. Obviously, a book into its 3rd, or higher edition, will have corrected many errors from its earlier editions, and very likely have included up-to-date descriptions of the current state of the C programming language.

Online bookstores, such as Amazon, also include many reviews by their customers. A great book price+shipping comparison website: www.booko.com.au

If nothing else, grab these free PDFs:

Beej's Guide to C Programming
by Brian "Beej Jorgensen" Hall,

Volume 1 - the Tutorial, July 2024,
and
Volume 2 - the Library Reference, December 2022.

cover C Notes for Professionals
The C Notes for Professionals book is compiled from Stack Overflow Documentation by GoalKicker.com,
342 pages (a free PDF download)
May 2019.


An excellent first textbook on C:

cover C Programming a Modern Approach - 2nd Edition
K.N. King
Publisher: Manning Press
ISBN-13: 978-0393979503
2008
Amazon reviews

A freely available (legal) PDF copy

Some advanced books on C:

If you are already a strong programmer in Java or even C, then these books will be suitable for you. Do not purchase one of these as a first textbook on C.

cover Pointers on C
Kenneth Reek
Publisher: Addison-Wesley
ISBN: 0673999866
636 pages
1998
cover Understanding and Using C Pointers
Richard M. Reese
O'Reilly Media
May 2013
226 pages.
cover 21st Century C
Ben Klemens
O'Reilly Media
October 2012
296 pages.
cover Data Structures: A Pseudocode Approach with C, 2nd Edition
Richard Gilberg, Behrouz Forouzan
Publisher: Cengage Learning US
ISBN-13: 9780534390808
672 pages
2005
cover Computer Science: A Structured Programming Approach Using C, 3rd Edition
Behrouz Forouzan, Richard Gilberg
Publisher: Cengage Learning US
ISBN-13: 978-0-534-49132-1
1184 pages
2007
Amazon reviews

Some Reference Materials on C:

These are not materials or textbooks from which you will be able to learn C from scratch. They are listed here because they are often cited, well respected, definitive references on the C Programming Language. If you have a serious interest in the C Programming Language (or if you're a pedant) you may be interested in one of these (perhaps a secondhand copy). Do not purchase one of these as a first textbook on C.

cover The C Standard: Incorporating Technical Corrigendum 1
British Standards Institute
Publisher: Wiley
ISBN: 0-470-84573-2
558 pages
2003
cover C Programming Language, 2nd Edition
Brian Kernighan, Dennis Ritchie
Publisher: Prentice Hall
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-110362-7
274 pages
1988
cover The C Standard Library
P.J. Plauger
Publisher: Prentice Hall
ISBN: 978-0-13-1315099
512 pages
1991
pdf WG14 N1570
This International Standard specifies the form and establishes the interpretation of programs expressed in the programming language C. Its purpose is to promote portability, reliability, maintainability, and efficient execution of C language programs on a variety of computing systems (April 2011).
pdf C99RationaleV5.10
The rationale for the C99 standard.
pdf The New C Standard - A Cultural and Economic Commentary
by Derek M. Jones
updated June 2009.
This is a very advanced commentary on the C language - NOT light reading!
pdf The CERT(R) C Coding Standard, 2nd ed: 98 Rules for Developing Safe, Reliable, and Secure Systems
Publisher: Addison-Wesley
ISBN-13: 978-0321984043
576 pages
2014.
The University of Western Australia

Computer Science and Software Engineering

CRICOS Code: 00126G
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