[ale] [OT] Anyone up for a 90 Day Wonder Challenge?

Scott M. Jones eff at dragoncon.org
Wed Nov 25 17:30:52 EST 2015


This was the book I learned C from though with a much earlier edition
back in the 80's and 90's.  Never used K&R which was falling from favor
and didn't cover ANSI C back then.

Part is learning the language itself and part is learning the Unix
system calls.  Pointers may seem hairy but heap management (memory
leaks) are usually the biggest pain point.  A good heap management tool
is really nice to have.

http://www.amazon.com/Reference-Manual-5th-Edition/dp/013089592X

On 11/25/15 1:42 PM, Jim Kinney wrote:
> Dec 1 is good. A group session on Tuesday eves is good for me. Thurs
> could work for alternate when Tuesday is bad. Wednesday can work after
> 9pm. Friday is officially beer and tv night.
> 
> On Nov 25, 2015 1:25 PM, "leam hall" <leamhall at gmail.com
> <mailto:leamhall at gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
>     Mentally 1 Dec so we have 3 months. I've already started a little,
>     but the chapters are pretty short.
> 
>     Again, keep in mind, progress will probably be individual. You may
>     breeze through something that takes me a couple weeks to get. That
>     will work great, as you'll be able to answer questions and help me
>     understand. My next two chapters, 5 and 6, are about memorizing
>     keywords, operators, and code structures like for loops.
> 
>     It might be useful to be available on IRC if you want. We all seem
>     to be in the same timezone so that's a plus. Would that be something
>     you guys are interested in? What days/times would work for you?
> 
> 
>     On Wed, Nov 25, 2015 at 1:16 PM, Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com
>     <mailto:jim.kinney at gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
>         Starting....?
> 
>         On Nov 25, 2015 1:15 PM, "leam hall" <leamhall at gmail.com
>         <mailto:leamhall at gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
>             I have the 2nd ed of K&R. Zed makes the recommendation to do
>             that one after his. I've always found K&R to be good when I
>             understood it but there were a lot of bits I didn't get.
> 
>             It would be great if we get a sage/mentor/leader/teacher who
>             is good in C. I'm pressing forward either way, though.
> 
>             On Wed, Nov 25, 2015 at 12:50 PM, Jim Kinney
>             <jim.kinney at gmail.com <mailto:jim.kinney at gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
>                 A leader/teacher who is conversant in C is needed. Any
>                 volunteers?
> 
>                 Etherpad can be used as a group code page/scratch pad.
> 
>                 I'm interested as well. I think the only C book I have
>                 is K&R. Oh. I found some others: 4th ed C reference
>                 (Osborne) and an old course book "Problem solving &
>                 program design in C" and O'Reilly "Practical C
>                 programming" and "Mathematical functions in C" (I have
>                 that in fortran as well).
> 
>                 On Wed, 2015-11-25 at 12:25 -0500, Boris Borisov wrote:
>>
>>                 I'm for the idea. Someone should lead though or just
>>                 set the goals for next week.
>>
>>                 On Nov 25, 2015 11:53 AM, "leam hall"
>>                 <leamhall at gmail.com <mailto:leamhall at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>                 Hey Boris!
>>>
>>>                 One of the biggest challenges learners face is
>>>                 encouragement. Others are accountability, feedback,
>>>                 and resources.
>>>
>>>                 So our "weekly meeting via electrons" might be me
>>>                 saying my goal is to work on Chapters 5 and 6 for the
>>>                 book I'm in. I happen to know those two chapters are
>>>                 memorization so it's a matter of making and using
>>>                 flash cards. Next week you ask me how well I did on
>>>                 my goals. We congratulate each other for doing well,
>>>                 make new goals, and enjoy life.
>>>
>>>                 What if we don't make our goals? Okay, we set new
>>>                 ones based on what we think is reasonable. If we get
>>>                 really stumped by a problem we can talk it out to see
>>>                 if that helps us get past the hurdle, or we can go
>>>                 research what char **s[] means, or whatever. Having
>>>                 others to help and encourage seems to help people learn.
>>>
>>>                 Make sense? I'm sure we can find some folks here who
>>>                 could clarify things for us but I think we will make
>>>                 better progress if we struggle together a little
>>>                 before reaching out.
>>>
>>>                 Leam
>>>
>>>
>>>                 On Wed, Nov 25, 2015 at 10:04 AM, Boris Borisov
>>>                 <bugyatl at gmail.com <mailto:bugyatl at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>                 How do you see this join learning to take place.
>>>>                 Just asking. I could join for learning not relearning.
>>>>
>>>>                 On Nov 25, 2015 9:34 AM, "leam hall"
>>>>                 <leamhall at gmail.com <mailto:leamhall at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>>>                 I'm looking to re-learn C. My goal is to spend the
>>>>>                 next 90 days working through "Learn C the Hard
>>>>>                 Way". Anyone up for joining me? Pick your own book
>>>>>                 or get the same. Don't expect miracles but commit
>>>>>                 to a few minutes 3-5 times a week.
>>>>>
>>>>>                 Anyone? Buhler?
>>>>>



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