• Part I The Project Cycle


• Part II General Programming Advice


• Part II C Usage


• Part IV C Review


• Part V Miscellaneous

Part I discusses the concepts of design, testing, debugging, and optimizing that apply to any programming language. Part II covers visual organization, commenting, data objects, numeric considerations, and input and output. Part III explores the particulars of C usage, including expressions and statements, functions, arrays and pointers, and the preprocessor. Part IV examines each operator in the language and points out key features of the Standard C Library. Part V has an unusual chapter — "Coding for non-C Programmers." This chapter doesn't quite fit the book's motif. It attempts to gently introduce non-C programmers to the language by soft-pedal-ling the "hard-core" use of C that the rest of the book encourages. The very next chapter swings the pendulum to the other extreme with idioms that are unique to C.

"The C language, like many other notations (mathematical, musical, etc.), is difficult for a beginner or outsider to understand. Once mastered, however, it is easier to read than equivalent text. Readability should therefore be measured not by how similar the program is to text, but rather how effectively the notation is used to express the operations clearly.

"It is a key concept of this book that this notation (the C language) should be mastered and exploited."

The authors demonstrate that although C has its quirks, it is a language that works.

I have very few nits to pick with this book. In one case (section 17.8), the text mentions that a signal handler should only write to variables of type volatile sig_atomic_t, but the sample code leaves off the volatile keyword. The authors also seem to think that wide characters and multibyte characters are the same thing (which they are not). Two nits in 340 pages ain't bad.

Since this is book on style, it treads on subjective ground. What is elegant or aesthetically-pleasing to one may be unclear or offensive to another. For example, they prefer this

while (condition_0)
{   statement_1;
    statement_2;
    if (!condition_1) continue;
    statement_3;
    statement_4;
    if (!condition_2) continue;
    statement_5;
    statement_6;
}

while (condition_0)
{
    statement_1;
    statement_2;
    if (condition_1)
    {
      statement_3;
      statement_4;
      if (condition_2)
      {
        statement_5;
        statement_6;
      }
    }
}

for (i=1, e=t=1.0; i<=n; t/=++i) e += t;

e = t = 1.0;
for (i = 0; i <= n; ++i)
{
    e += t;
    t /= (i + 1);
}

But this brings us to the most important point of all. There is no need for a "one-true-style" approach to coding. What is important is consistency. I like the way the authors say it:

"While some disagreement is inevitable with a book of this sort, we hope that the expert will not condemn this book if only a few rules conflict with his or her opinions...If you disagree with a rule, read the discussion. If you still disagree with the rule, do not use it. Every programmer has personal preferences...Rules should be applied consistently, but not slavishly. A good example is the structured programming approach. Strict structured programming...prohibits the use of goto. Strict adherence to structured programming results, in general, in good code. In some cases, however, very ugly code can be generated by blind adherence to some of its rules. (For example, not allowing more than one exit point per function can create complicated situations). Consistency is very important. Blind obedience is not."

While the claim on the back cover, that this is "the first book offering clear and direct rules for good C programming style," is stretching things a bit (I think Tom Plum beat them to it in the eighties with C Programming Guidelines as well as every other Plum-Hall publication), it is true that not many books on C programming style have been written. The authors identify their book as being in the spirit of Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, and The Elements of Programming Style by Kernighan and Plauger. (It wants to be sequel to the latter.) Since both of those books are about one-fifth the size of this book, they have produced a work of a different genre (should I say style?). But what they lose in length they make up in completeness. There is a place for The Elements of C Programming Style on the C practitioner's bookshelf.

Title: The Elements of C Programming Style
Author: Jay Ranade and Alan Nash
Publisher: McGraw-Hill,
11 West 19th Street,
New York, NY 10011,
1-800-822-8158,
FAX 212-337-4092
Price: $29.95
ISBN: 0-07-051278-7