The Standard C Library
by P. J. Plauger · first published 1991
81% recommend19% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Presents the C library standard alongside Plauger's commentary and a full working implementation of it. Suits C programmers who want to understand why the library works as it does, or who need to implement it.
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…Intelligence Programming Chris Okasaki, Purely Functional Data Structures Richard O'Keefe, The Craft of Prolog P. J. Plauger, Programming on Purpose I. (and II and III) P. J. Plauger, The Standard C Library Jef Raskin, The Humane Interface Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach Toby Segaran, Programming Collective Intelligence Toffoli and Margolus, Cellular…
on “Which programming book you just couldn’t stop reading from start to end?” ↗…Chapter 7. For C gotchas and general good practices: http://www.cs.tufts.edu/comp/40/reference/CTrapsAndPitfalls.... Allen Holub. 1995. Enough Rope to Shoot Yourself in the Foot. P.J. Plauger. 1991. The Standard C Library. (It is partly a reference, but also has detailed discussion of the technical considerations faced in writing reliable code.)
on “Ask HN: Books to learn advanced C programming” ↗Back in the day, I found P.J. Plauger's "The Standard C Library" immensely instructive, as it contains a full implementation of the (then) standard library. Admittedly, the book is more than 25 years old now, but I'm sure it would still make an interesting read:…
on “Tearing apart printf()” ↗…from around 1.4-ish, it might have gotten more complicated now). I liked that it was actually possible to read it and understand what was going on. In a similar vein, P. J. Plauger's version of the The Standard C Library is nice because even if it might not be especially optimized(?), you can actually read the code and understand the concepts that the standard library is based on. Software Tools by Kernighan and Plauger…
on “Ask HN: What are the “best” codebases that you've encountered?” ↗…programming language doesn't need anymore the ISO committee since it introduced non de facto standard features such as VLA. For reference I still use The C Programming Language by KERNIGHAN/RITCHIE and The Standard C Library by PLAUGER. In my view what programmers need the most is good practices rather than any syntactic sugar. I prefer C rather than any other programming language for its conciseness. There is opportunities…
on “Tell HN: C Experts Panel – Ask us anything about C” ↗"The Standard C Library" by P.J. Plauger. would be a match for stuff discussed in K&R. Although, K&R is pre-C 89 standard, Plauger is more along the lines of C-89/92 standard. More recent "standard ansi C library" : https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/C_Programming/Standard_librari...
on “Ask HN: Why does the C K&R Book not talk about threads?” ↗…Lisp, it's also good for you even if you only use it rarely): King's "C Programming: A Modern Approach" (though you could start with a popular introduction like O'Reilly's "Head First C"), Plauger's "Standard C Library," Hanson's "C Interfaces and Implementations," and O'Reilly's "Understanding and Using C Pointers," as a start. Van der Linden's "Expert C Programming" is an excellent intermediate text that is also surprisingly…
on “Book recommendation to learn basics of Comp Sci?” ↗I've only found two books on C worth the money. One is K&R, the other one (which I haven't seen mentioned here) is "The Standard C Library" by P.J. Plauger. It not only presents the ISO standard for the library, but Plauger's commentary on the standard, how to implement the standard C library, along with his implementation. It explains…
on “Ask HN: Learning C” ↗…learned from K&R, but I learned better from H&S. From this list (can't say how current they are), http://www.c-faq.com/resources/sd19.html I liked: - K&R and H&S (if you have to choose, H&S) - The Standard C Library, P.J.Plauger. - C Traps and Pitfalls, Andrew Koenig.
on “Ask HN: I use and love Python. What's the best book to learn C ?” ↗Maybe not. If you're at that level, consider reading "The Standard C Library" by Plauger. I used it as a reference for updating a non-compliant library to be mostly compliant. I gained a better understanding of why the standard C library is the way it is, and learned how to…
…still use K&R, although it's mostly Appendix B (the Standard Library) at this point (I find it easier to read than the man pages). The only other C book I have (and consider worthwhile) is Plauger's _The Standard C Library_, not only for his implementation but for the history behind the Standard Library.
The post was based up the book The Standard C Library by P. J. Plauger. It's an excellent reference (if a bit dated as it only covers C89) that not only prints the relevant bits from the C Standard, but goes into the history behind the functions and provides…
on “Inside the C Standard Library” ↗I second every book recommendation here. Another great one is The Standard C Library.
on “Ask HN: How do I learn C properly?” ↗…Century C: C Tips from the New School - Ben Klemens Understanding and Using C Pointers - Richard Reese C Interfaces and Implementations: Techniques for Creating Reusable Software - David R. Hanson The Standard C Library - P. J. Plauger
on “Tell HN: C Experts Panel – Ask us anything about C” ↗…libraries/Frameworks i recommend a study of "Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) library" paired with the book MFC Internals. The code is available with the installation of Visual Studio. * P.J.Plauger's The Standard C Library and The C++ Standard Template Library(with Alexander Stepanov, Meng Lee and David Musser) will teach you excellent C and C++ Generic programming skills. Code available with the standard C++ toolchain…
on “Ask HN: Good C++ code bases to read?” ↗