The Practice of Programming

Posted on 22 December 2018 by Brian W. Kernighan

Coauthored by Brian Kernighan, one of the pioneers of the C programming language, The Practice of Programming is a manual of good programming style that will help any C C or Java developer create faster, maintainable code. Early sections look at some of the pitfalls of C C , with numerous real world excerpts of confusing or incorrect code The authors offer many tips and solutions, including a guide for variable names and commenting styles Next, they cover algorithms, such as binary and quick sorting Here, the authors show how to take advantage of the built in functions in standard C C When it comes to data structures, such as arrays, linked lists, and trees, the authors compare the options available to C, C , Java, and even Perl developers with a random text generation program using a sophisticated Markov chain algorithm written for each language. Subsequent sections cover debugging tips including how to isolate errors with debugging statements and testing strategies both white box and black box testing for verifying the correctness of code Final sections offer tips on creating portable C C code, with the last chapter suggesting that programmers can take advantage of interpreters and regular expressions to gain better control over their code A handy appendix summarizes the dozens of tips offered throughout the book. With its commonsense expertise and range of examples drawn from C, C , and Java, The Practice of Programming is an excellent resource for improving the style and performance of your code baseRichard Dragan New Download The Practice of Programming [ author ] Brian W. Kernighan [ Kindle ePUB or eBook ] – kino-fada.fr Overall a decent introduction to some of the lessons you ll learn after a few years in the trenches of real programming.If you re fresh out of college and starting your first programming gig, read this book carefully A lot of what it says may sound like common sense, but often people don t take it to heart It will save you pain down the road Kernighan and Pike know what you re talking about and you d be wise to listen to them.If you re already an experienced programmer there s probably not a Overall a decent introduction to some of the lessons you ll learn after a few years in the trenches of real programming.If you re fresh out of college and starting your first programming gig, read this book carefully A lot of what it says may sound like common sense, but often people don t take it to heart It will save you pain down the road Kernighan and Pike know what you re talking about and you d be wise to listen to them.If you re already an experienced programmer there s probably not a whole lot here that will be new to you, but it s still worth reading to see how the authors talk about things And who knows, there may be a lesson or two in it for you after all The book is very C and C focused, with occasional examples in Java, shell and Perl A lot of the advice in it is specific to C...The book describes itself as a practical guide to general programming in the real world, but for the most part, doesn t deliver on that promise for a number of reasons First, the book should have been called The Practice of Programming in C and C The intro chapters say Java, Perl, and others would be discussed, but I d estimate the C languages make up 90% of the examples and advice The long discussions of memory management, pointers, and portability do not apply to any of the other language The book describes itself as a practical guide to general programming in the real world, but for the most part, doesn t deliver on that promise for a number of reasons First, the book should have been called The Practice of Programming in C and C The intro chapters say Java, Perl, and others would be discussed, but I d estimate the C languages make up 90% of the examples and advice The long discussions of memory management, pointers, and portability do not apply to any of the other languages, or most modern languages in general Second, the preface says the book will teach things not covered in school, but the second chapter is a quick, incomplete, and not very rigorous intro to data structures and algorithms straight out of cs 101 Third, the discussion on coding style is handled much better in other books, such as Code Complete and Clean Code In fact, I m not a fan of some of the recommended coding conventions For example, the book advo...It s really important to have some expectation before reading this book.Experienced developers may think that this book is useless for them, because of outdated information a lot of C code obvious ideasBut I highly recommend them to reread the following chapters Chapter 1 is about style Chapter 5 is about debugging that is really important as for experienced developers and newbies Chapter 7 describes different approaches related to performance of your apps.If you are newbie in a softwar It s really important to have some expectation before reading this book.Experienced developers may think that this book is useless for them, because of outdated information a lot of C code obvious ideasBut I highly recommend them to reread the following chapters Chapter 1 is about style Chapter 5 is about de...Wonderful book and extremely good advice on programming practice I realized that this book is not be read in one sitting or in a month This book is to be taken up for half a year to a year of dedicated study and requires solving the problems presented like technical book So this fits in all the characteristic of a technical book with with problem given at the end of section for the student to attempt But where the book differs from many of the technical books is, one one teaches style, desig Wonderful book and extremely good advice on programming practice I realized that this book is not be read in one sitting or in a month This book is to be taken up for half a y...Some interesting material, but overallsuited to people at the start of their careers, and very focused on low level concerns that are relevant for C and C Actually, my overriding impression during the book was look at all this effort to avoid dumb errors in l...Keeping the standard of The C Programming Language, this book is a no frills guide to writing exceptional software While aimed at C, C , and Java developers, the topics are relevant to those working in other languages.This is a book that every programmer should read many times during their career I wish I would have read this book many years before as many of the teachings here I learned them with the experience but nevertheless I found it super instructive and will definitely read it again a coupletimes.One to keep around for periodic reminders of key principles that affect day to day programming.I enjoyed this book very much From time to time it could be a bit too detailed and technical, but overall it s full of sound and useful advises.Concise and well written, this book lays out several guidelines and methods that will improve how one writes programs C, C , and Java are the dominant languages throughout, but the authors don t play favorites For them, computer languages are but different notations for solving problems, hence the problem at hand should recommend the notation In the Design and Implementation chapter the same program a Markov chain algorithm is resolved into C, C , Java, Awk, and Perl code, using typical Concise and well written, this book lays out several guidelines and methods that will improve how one writes programs C, C , and Java are the dominant languages throughout, but the authors don t play favorites For them, computer languages are but different notations for solving problems, hence the problem at hand should recommend the notation In the Design and Implementation chapter the same program a Markov chain algorithm is resolved into C, C , Java, Awk, and Perl code, using typical idioms for each language and illustrating how each language colors the result Very nice.Published in 1999, just under ten years ago from this review 2008 , the book predates the vast online communities that have forme...

English
22 December 2018

Brian W. Kernighan