[.ca] The Art and Science of C: A Library Based Introduction ... (ISBN 0201543222)

Yeah, I agree...:
...perhaps it might be useful to adopt Eric Roberts' approach to learn computer science; learn the fundamentals. ... But if you would like to learn how to think like a Computer Scientist, this book is a great launching pad for future success. You learn from the ground up, and you go one step at a time so that you can understand and master the techniques and methodologies that will enable you to think more creatively and create more successfully when you move on to more advanced programming languages.

The Art and Science of C:
I thought this was a wonderful beginners book. It gave me the basics and then allowed me to go on and try new things by myself. By the end I really felt like I could write my own programs in C. I only gave it four stars because I am a harsh grader and its a textbook, so you can't give it five.

The Art and Science of C:
I borrowed this book from library and believed I had made a right decision. Quoted from the book, Mr. Roberts have been teaching computer science for over 20 years, I'm not sure how long he has taught C language but I suppose this book is written in a way that he believes is most beneficial to the readers, based on his teaching experience. C is a cryptic and complex language, so the author teaches in a stepwise manner, he hides the complexity by introducing his private libraries and data abstractions. So the readers implement the functionality of C, which is independent from the complexity of C; once the readers have enough grasp at C, they may move on to explore the complexity of C. The author have done these with good intention because data types in ANSI C are limited in size, for example, the data type int is different from our perception of integer in daily life. The address operator & may be confusing as well. How did I use the book? I rewrited all the examples presented in book without his private libaries. I did the exercises in the book without his private libraries as well. Instead of copying all his codes and getting them work, I tried to make errors: for example, in the simple hello world program, omitted the preprocessor operator #, then read the error messages. I also tried to improve the efficiency of my algorithm. This maybe a good introductory book for people who have experience in programming in languages other than C since the syntax of C may confuse them, but owning it is not recommended.

More than just coding:
Is it your dream to become an excelent programmer? Are you going to studie computer science? If you can answer only one of these questions with yes, then this book is for you! But why is this book superior to other books of the same subject? It helps to develop the right mindset needed to become a true computer scientist not just a programmer. The use of libraries and abstractions from the beginning (this can not be emphasized enough; i have seen people building there own Java-packages with the same functionallity than the builtin ones, just because they were not able to use what was already there!). It is written in a style that shows that E. Roberts is an excelent teacher. For teaching basic software engineering and developement techniques. Some reviewers have mentioned that the syntax of C is hidden away (to far?) from the student because E. Roberts uses his own libraries. I think it is a reasonable approach, for an introduction, especially when the language is C, but even more important, students learn to reuse code through modules and libraries. The complexity of the hole language can be teached later, after reading the successor of this book by the same author, by diving into the sources of the libraries. After reading these two books by E. Roberts you have prepared yourself for the further studie of computer science and computer languages

DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!:
Please, please, do not buy this book. I am a Grad Student at NIU and we use this book for the basic C class here. This book is useless! Most of the book needs the "specially made for the book" header files included with it to run the C code; therefore the book does not teach real C. If you go on to any thing higher in Computer Science this book will be of no use to you, due to the way it is written. ...DO NOT BUY BAD C BOOKS LIKE THIS!