C language is profoundly convenient and is utilized for scripting framework applications. C is a universally useful programming language; it can proficiently take a shot at big business applications. Producing and designing game applications is quite easy when working with C. Learning the C language is not that difficult as it is written in the basic English language except for the specific libraries. For that, a proper set of C programming books will serve its purpose. The use of C is unlimited, but some of its basic uses include developing desktop and system applications. C is an elementary, mid-level, and structured programming language; it is super fast and has a rich library.
Best C Programming Books
To learn C, one should be ready with a proper set of c programming books to guide them throughout their journey. C is unequivocally an important language. If you want to get into the field of programming, you must learn C. Especially for newbies, starting with C as a language to learn is a brilliant idea as it is easy-going and fun to learn.
1. Beginning C From Novice to Professional
If you are interested in learning C programming from scratch, then this book is exemplary for you. It will spoon-feed you all the topics, from the most rudimentary to advanced concepts. This book will teach you how to create your own C programs, how you can deal with errors, and how to dissect a simple program. After that, it will move on to explaining what variables are and all the decision-making processes.
Slowly, after that, you will be taught some of the most interesting yet a bit critical topics, which are loops, arrays, and pointers. They may seem intimidating at first, but once you get a hold of them, you will love them! Finally, it will teach you one of the most important topics: functions, which you will need a lot in the future.
Table of Contents
- CHAPTER 1 Programming in C
- CHAPTER 2 First Steps in Programming
- CHAPTER 3 Making Decisions
- CHAPTER 4 Loops
- CHAPTER 5 Arrays
- CHAPTER 6 Applications with Strings and Text
- CHAPTER 7 Pointers
- CHAPTER 8 Structuring Your Programs
- CHAPTER 9 More on Functions
- CHAPTER 10 Essential Input and Output Operations
- CHAPTER 11 Structuring Data
- CHAPTER 12 Working with Files
- CHAPTER 13 Supporting Facilities
2. C For Dummies
This is one of those C programming books filled with an exceptional number of examples that help the reader understand each topic almost effortlessly. Did you ever find yourself thinking that “Omg, how can I not know this fact”? Well, then, this is the ideal book for you as it will hold your hand and teach you all the basics and advanced topics with much ease.
The book has several parts, thus making it very accomodating to read. It is written in such an affable manner that it will almost make you feel like you are reading a storybook and not learning some super-hard computer language.
Table of Contents
Part I: Introduction to C Programming
- Chapter 1: Up from the Primordial C
- Chapter 2: C of Sorrow, C of Woe
- Chapter 3: C Straight
- Chapter 4: C What I/O
- Chapter 5: To C or Not to C
- Chapter 6: C More I/O with gets() and puts()
Part II: Run and Scream from Variables and Math
- Chapter 7: A + B = C
- Chapter 8: Charting Unknown Cs with Variables
- Chapter 9: How to C Numbers
- Chapter 10: Cook That C Variable Charred, Please
Part III: Giving Your Programs the Ability to Run Amok
- Chapter 11: C More Math and the Sacred Order of Precedence
- Chapter 12: C the Mighty if Command
- Chapter 13: What If C==C?
- Chapter 14: Iffy C Logic
- Chapter 15: C You Again
- Chapter 16: C the Loop, C the Loop++
- Chapter 17: C You in a While Loop
- Chapter 18: Do C While You Sleep
- Chapter 19: Switch Case, or, From ‘C’ to Shining ‘c.’
Part IV: C Level
- Chapter 20: Writing That First Function
- Chapter 21: Contending with Variables in Functions
- Chapter 22: Functions That Actually Funct
- Chapter 23: The Stuff That Comes First
- Chapter 24: The printf() Chapter
- Chapter 25: Math Madness!
- Chapter 26: The Old Random-Number Function
Part V: Part of Tens
- Chapter 27: Ten More Things You Need to Know about the C Language
- Chapter 28: Ten Tips for the Budding Programmer
- Chapter 29: Ten Ways to Solve Your Own Programming Problems
3. C IN A NUTSHELL
As its name suggests, the phrase “In a Nutshell” shows this book’s motivation, which is to fill in as a helpful, solid ally for C developers in their everyday work. It portrays all the components of the language and represents its utilization with various models. This book isn’t a prologue to programming in C.
Although it covers the language basics, it is not sorted out or composed as an instructional exercise. This book is not for the ultimate newbies; it expects you to peruse one of the numerous basic books or know about a related language, such as Java or C++.
Table of Contents
Part I. Language
- Language Basics
- Types
- Literals
- Type Conversions
- Expressions and Operators
- Statements
- Functions
- Arrays
- Pointers
- Structures, Unions, and Bit-Fields
- Declarations
- Dynamic Memory Management
- Input and Output
- Multithreading
- Preprocessing Directives
Part II. Standard Library
- The Standard Headers
- Functions at a Glance
- Standard Library Functions
Part III. Basic Tools
- Compiling with GCC
- Using make to Build C Programs
- Debugging C Programs with GDB
- Using an IDE with C
4. C Programming for the Absolute Beginner
If you are a complete novice and have never programmed at all, going through the chapters in this book in the order given will help you to learn C comfortably without almost any effort. This C programming book is specially designed for beginners who find programming intimidating; it is written to make the procedure sensibly easy and ideally fun.
Every part starts with a short prologue to section-based ideas. Once inside the section, you will take a gander at a progression of programming ideas and little projects that will show you every one of the part’s significant purposes. Finally, you will be able to put these ideas together to assemble a total program to finish the chapters.
Table of Contents
- Chapter 1 Getting Started with C Programming
- Chapter 2 Primary Data Types
- Chapter 3 Conditions
- Chapter 4 Looping Structures
- Chapter 5 Structured Programming
- Chapter 6 Arrays
- Chapter 7 Pointers
- Chapter 8 Strings
- Chapter 9 Introduction to Data Structures
- Chapter 10 Dynamic Memory Allocation
- Chapter 11 File Input and Output
- Chapter 12 The C Preprocessor
5. C From Theory to Practice
This C programming book is principally routed to students who have just opted for a C programming course. It is also intended for those individuals who want to seek knowledge of the C language by themselves and experienced C software engineers who need to test their aptitudes. Teachers teaching C programming can also be benefitted ass this book has illustrative programming guides that they can include in their discussions.
So, what precisely separates this book from the others in the field? This book tests both the fledglings’ aptitudes and propelled designers by giving a simple-to-understand aggregation of the C hypothesis. It is enhanced with tips and guidance and also contains innumerable programming exercises.
Table of Contents
- Introduction to C
- Data Types, Variables, and Data Output
- Getting Input with scanf()
- Operators
- Program Control
- Loops
- Arrays
- Pointers
- Characters
- Strings
- Functions
- Searching and Sorting Arrays
- Structures and Unions
- Memory Management and Data Structures
- Files
- Preprocessor Directives and Macros
- Review Exercises
6. C The Complete Reference
This is one of the best C programming books for those who want to learn the C language deeply. The book is divided into six parts, taking you from the most basic chapters to the advanced chapters. It will help you comprehend each chapter and every chapter with multifarious examples to help you reach out to all parts of each topic.
This book will provide you with deep theoretical and practical knowledge of C. Thus, it is ideal for both absolute novices and intermediate-level programmers who have a general idea of C and know how to program but want to gain some additional erudition in this language.
Table of Contents
- Part I – Foundational C
- Part II – The C99 Standard
- Part III – The C Standard Library
- Part IV – Algorithms and Applications
- Part V – Software Development Using C
- Part VI – A C Interpreter
7. Objective – C Quick Syntax Reference
Do you feel tyrannized by the thought of learning a completely new programming language and C language? This book is exquisite for you as it will help you reach your comfort zone with C super quickly. Objective – C encompasses C’s object-oriented programming capabilities by extending the language further. Beginning from operators, variables, strings, and numbers, it will teach you arrays, class methods, inheritance, error handling, and also web services.
Table of Contents
- Chapter 1: Hello World
- Chapter 2: Build and Run
- Chapter 3: Variables
- Chapter 4: Operators
- Chapter 5: Objects
- Chapter 6: Strings
- Chapter 7: Numbers
- Chapter 8: Arrays
- Chapter 9: Dictionaries
- Chapter 10: For Loops
- Chapter 11: While Loops
- Chapter 12: Do While Loops
- Chapter 13: For-Each Loops
- Chapter 14: If Statements
- Chapter 15: Switch Statements
- Chapter 16: Defining Classes
- Chapter 17: Class Methods
- Chapter 18: Inheritance
- Chapter 19: Categories
- Chapter 20: Blocks
- Chapter 21: Key-Value Coding
- Chapter 22: Key-Value Observation
- Chapter 23: Protocols
- Chapter 24: Delegation
- Chapter 25: Singleton
- Chapter 26: Error Handling
- Chapter 27: Background Processing
- Chapter 28: Object Archiving
- Chapter 29: Web Services
8. C Notes for Professionals
This C programming book is the ultimate book for anyone who wants to learn C and those who know about C programming but intend to retain all the information for their future needs. It is divided in such an immaculate manner that even the most amateur programmers can understand by reading it.
If you want to learn C programming by reading only one book, then this is the book you should opt for as it contains all the necessary information to make you a professional from a novice. So it is highly recommended not to skip over this book.
Table of Contents
- Chapter 1: Getting started with C Language
- Chapter 2: Comments
- Chapter 3: Data Types
- Chapter 4: Operators
- Chapter 5: Boolean
- Chapter 6: Strings
- Chapter 7: Literals for numbers, characters, and strings
- Chapter 8: Compound Literals
- Chapter 9: Bit-fields
- Chapter 10: Arrays
- Chapter 11: Linked lists
- Chapter 12: Enumerations
- Chapter 13: Structs
- Chapter 14: Standard Math
- Chapter 15: Iteration Statements/Loops: for, while do-while
- Chapter 16: Selection Statements
- Chapter 17: Initialization
- Chapter 18: Declaration vs. Definition
- Chapter 19: Command-line arguments
- Chapter 20: Files and I/O streams
- Chapter 21: Formatted Input/Output
- Chapter 22: Pointers
- Chapter 23: Sequence points
- Chapter 24: Function Pointers
- Chapter 25: Function Parameters
- Chapter 26: Pass 2D-arrays to functions
- Chapter 27: Error handling
- Chapter 28: Undefined behavior
- Chapter 29: Random Number Generation
- Chapter 30: Preprocessor and Macros
- Chapter 31: Signal handling
- Chapter 32: Variable arguments
- Chapter 33: Assertion
- Chapter 34: Generic selection
- Chapter 35: X-macros
- Chapter 36: Aliasing and effective type
- Chapter 37: Compilation
- Chapter 38: Inline assembly
- Chapter 39: Identifier Scope
- Chapter 40: Implicit and Explicit Conversions
- Chapter 41: Type Qualifiers
- Chapter 42: Typedef
- Chapter 43: Storage Classes
- Chapter 44: Declarations
- Chapter 45: Structure Padding and Packing
- Chapter 46: Memory management
- Chapter 47: Implementation-defined behavior
- Chapter 48: Atomics
- Chapter 49: Jump Statements
- Chapter 50: Create and include header files
- Chapter 51: <ctype.h> — character classification & conversion
- Chapter 52: Side Effects
- Chapter 53: Multi-Character Character Sequence
- Chapter 54: Constraints
- Chapter 55: Inlining
- Chapter 56: Unions
- Chapter 57: Threads (native)
- Chapter 58: Multithreading
- Chapter 59: Interprocess Communication (IPC)
- Chapter 60: Testing frameworks
- Chapter 61: Valgrind
- Chapter 62: Common C programming idioms and developer practices
- Chapter 63: Common pitfalls
9. Head First C
Head First C has been designed in such a manner to make you forget that you are learning something. It rather makes you feel more comfortable with the language. Everything has been written in a more personalized, conversational style so that it seems as if you are just having a normal discussion about C programming with someone.
The book is full of stories and exercises. This helps to engage the reader into using their brain further and keeping it more active, thereby grasping every bit of information like a magnet. This book is not completely for beginners, as it expects you to know quite a bit about the language beforehand.
Table of Contents
- Getting Started with C: Diving in
- Memory and Pointers: What are you pointing at?
- Strings: String theory
- Creating Small Tools: Do one thing and do it well.
- Using Multiple Source Files: Break it down, build it up.
C Lab 1: Arduino
- Structs, Unions, and Bitfields: Rolling your own structures
- Data Structures and Dynamic Memory: Building bridges
- Advanced Functions: Turn your functions up to 11
- Static and Dynamic Libraries: Hot-swappable code
C Lab 2: OpenCV
- Processes and System Calls: Breaking boundaries
- Interprocess Communication: It’s good to talk
- Sockets and Networking: There’s no place like 127.0.0.1
- Threads: It’s a parallel world
C Lab 3: Blasteroids
- Leftovers: The top ten things
- C Topics: Revision roundup
10. The ANSI C Programming Language
If you are a beginner and your goal is to learn the C programming language from the beginning, then reading this book will help you achieve that goal. It has been written with very elementary, straightforward words that make it effortless to apprehend and interesting in the long run. To give you a fleeting idea of what this book comprises, let me tell you some of the important topics discussed here.
This book starts with a short but condensed introduction just to warm things up a bit for you. In the introduction, a summary is given for each topic. After that, it moves to operators and control flow. Finally comes the critical topics, which are structures, functions, pointers, and arrays.
Table of Contents
- A Tutorial Introduction
- Types, Operators, and Expressions
- Control Flow
- Functions and Program Structure
- Pointers and Arrays
- Structures
- Input and Output
- The UNIX System Interface
11. Objective C Programmer’s Reference
Objective-C Programmer’s Reference gives all the instruments important to construct working arrangements in Objective-C. Beginning from the essential structure squares of the C language, this programming book talks about how to make the right and effective applications.
It achieves this by utilizing information on object-situated programming just as organized programming. This book attempts to pass on just the most significant subjects with compact models and examples.
Additionally, it incorporates a snappy reference to the most commonly utilized classes, so you do not have to invest a lot of energy in taking a gander at these archives on the web. For engineers who need to utilize their proficiency adequately, objective-C Programer’s Reference is an astounding book for them.
Table of Contents
Part 1: The Language
- Chapter 1: The C in Objective-C
- Chapter 2: Classes
- Chapter 3: Strings and Container Classes
- Chapter 4: Categories and Protocols
- Chapter 5: Inheritance
- Chapter 6: Blocks
- Chapter 7: Dynamic Binding
- Chapter 8: Memory Management
- Chapter 9: Key-Value Coding
- Chapter 10: The File System
Part 2: Reference
- Chapter 11: The Foundation Framework
Part 3: The Tools
- Chapter 12: The Compiler
- Chapter 13: The Preprocessor
- Chapter 14: Unit Testing
- Chapter 15: Debugging Writing Apps for OS X and iOS
- Chapter 16: Building OS X GUI Applications
- Chapter 17: Building iOS Apps
12. C Programming Absolute Beginner’s Guide
This programming book is meant for those who find programming intimidating and are scared even to learn it. For you guys, this book is a piece from heaven. The chapters are so spread out that you will be able to comfortably grasp each topic without even having to stress about it much.
So feel free to download this book, as it was made just after thinking about you guys. Reading this book will also benefit you from not having to spend money on a course as it will teach you more like a tutorial than a normal, boring book.
Table of Contents
Part I: Jumping Right In
- What Is C Programming, and Why Should I Care?
- Writing Your First C Program
- What Does This Do? Clarifying Your Code with Comments
- Your World Premiere—Putting Your Program’s Results Up on the Screen
- Adding Variables to Your Programs
- Adding Words to Your Programs
- Making Your Programs More Powerful with #include and #define
- Interacting with Users
Part II: Putting C to Work for You with Operators and Expressions
- Crunching the Numbers—Letting C Handle Math for You
- Powering Up Your Variables with Assignments and Expressions
- The Fork in the Road—Testing Data to Pick a Path
- Juggling Several Choices with Logical Operators
- A Bigger Bag of Tricks—Some More Operators for Your Programs
Part III: Fleshing Out Your Programs
- Code Repeat—Using Loops to Save Time and Effort
- Looking for Another Way to Create Loops
- Breaking in and out of Looped Code
- Making a case for the switch Statement
- Increasing Your Program’s Output (and Input)
- Getting More from Your Strings
- Advanced Math (for the Computer, Not You!)
Part IV: Managing Data with Your C Programs
- Dealing with Arrays
- Searching Arrays
- Alphabetizing and Arranging Your Data
- Solving the Mystery of Pointers
- Arrays and Pointers
- Maximizing Your Computer’s Memory
- Setting Up Your Data with Structures
Part V: Files and Functions
- Saving Sequential Files to Your Computer
- Saving Random Files to Your Computer
- Organizing Your Programs with Functions
- Passing Variables to Your Functions
- Returning Data from Your Functions
13. Programming in ANSI C
This book is awesome for students who are studying for the basic C programming course as an undergraduate. It is super helpful and handy as it contains innumerable exercises and examples to explain a specific topic. So, suppose you are confused regarding a certain topic.
In that case, you can always move on to the next examples given for that topic. This will clear out all the doubts you have. Thus, after finishing this book, you can trust yourself to be among the many excellent programmers. The book is finely divided into many chapters to make it seem easier and less intimidating.
Table of Contents
- Abstract Data Types — Information Hiding
- Dynamic Linkage — Generic Functions
- Programming Savvy — Arithmetic Expressions
- Inheritance — Code Reuse and Refinement
- Programming Savvy — Symbol Table
- Class Hierarchy — Maintainability
- The ooc Preprocessor — Enforcing a Coding Standard
- Dynamic Type Checking — Defensive Programming
- Static Construction— Self-Organization
- Delegates — Callback Functions
- Class Methods— Plugging Memory Leaks
- Persistent Objects — Storing and Loading Data Structures
- Exceptions — Disciplined Error Recovery
- Forwarding Messages — A GUI Calculator
14. Expert C Programming: Deep C Secrets
This programming book makes you a professional in C programming by providing you with advanced tips and tricks. It is prepared in such a way as to provide you with all the topics that you need right at your reach. This book is not for beginners but rather for intermediate or advanced programmers who want to become experts in this field.
Challenging the cliché idea that specialized books will, in general, be exhausting, Expert C Programming offers an exuberant and frequently entertaining look into all the chapters so that you do not feel like giving up in the middle.
Table of Contents
- Chapter 1. C Through the Mists of Time
- Chapter 2. It’s Not a Bug, and It’s a Language Feature
- Chapter 3. Unscrambling Declarations in C
- Chapter 4. The Shocking Truth: C Arrays and Pointers are NOT the Same!
- Chapter 5. Thinking of Linking
- Chapter 6. Poetry in Motion: Runtime Data Structures
- Chapter 7. Thanks for the Memory
- Chapter 8. Why Programmers Can’t Tell Halloween from Christmas Day
- Chapter 9. More about Arrays
- Chapter 10. More About Pointers
- Chapter 11. You Know C, So C++ is Easy!
15. Object-oriented Programming with ANSI-C
Object-oriented programming is the ultimate panacea for everything nowadays, though it has been present for more than a few years. This C programming book will help you learn C and use this language in object-oriented programming. The book dives deep into object-oriented programming techniques, their benefits, and how they help us solve thousands of problems so easily.
Table of Contents
- Abstract Data Types — Information Hiding
- Dynamic Linkage — Generic Functions
- Programming Savvy — Arithmetic Expressions
- Inheritance — Code Reuse and Refinement
- Programming Savvy — Symbol Table
- Class Hierarchy — Maintainability
- The ooc Preprocessor — Enforcing a Coding Standard
- Dynamic Type Checking — Defensive Programming
- Static Construction— Self-Organization
- Delegates — Callback Functions
- Class Methods— Plugging Memory Leaks
- Persistent Objects — Storing and Loading Data Structures
- Exceptions — Disciplined Error Recovery
- Forwarding Messages — A GUI Calculator
- ANSI-C Programming Hints
- The ooc Preprocessor — Hints on awk Programming
- Manual
16. C and Data Structures by Practice
This reading material comprises individuals who might want to learn C and Data Structures without anyone else’s help and become specialists on their own steam. The main goal is to show you the strategies and the hypothesis unambiguously and justifiably, thereby bolstering your confidence.
The methodology of this book is to educate you by training and showing you real-time models. The first chapter has presented a large portion of C’s ideas like arrays, structures, loops, and pointers. The thought behind this was that you ought to get acquainted with the absolute minimum abilities to program, with the goal that you can deal with different works.
Table of Contents
- Around the World of C
- Programming Basics
- Control Statements
- Functions and Storage Classes
- Arrays & Strings
- Pointers
- Structures & Unions
- Files
- Linear Data Structures
- Stacks
- Queues
- Non-Linear Data Structures: Trees
- Graphs
- Searching and Sorting
17. Objective C Phrasebook
This is a very concise and practical book for learning C programming. It starts with the absolute basics and continues to the advanced chapters. A brief discussion on the philosophy of objective C is given as the introduction of this book. Then, it moves on to teaching you how to manage memory, manipulate strings, throw and catch exceptions, etc. Managing memory with blocks, binding variables to blocks, and network access covers the last part of the book.
Table of Contents
- The Objective-C Philosophy
- An Objective-C Primer
- Memory Management
- Common Objective-C Patterns
- Numbers
- Manipulating Strings
- Working with Collections
- Dates and Times
- Working with Property Lists
- Interacting with the Environment
- Key-Value Coding
- Handling Errors
- Accessing Directories and Files
- Threads
- Blocks and Grand Central
- Notifications
- Network Access
- Debugging Objective-C
- The Objective-C Runtime
18. Learning Objective-C 2.0
This book is proposed for software engineers who need to learn Objective-C to compose programs for Mac OS X or iOS. Although it is, in fact, conceivable to compose total OS X programs utilizing different dialects, composing a program that follows the Apple Human Interface Guidelines requires the utilization of the Objective-C Cocoa structures.
When composing for iOS, there is no option but to write an iPhone application’s external layer and UI in Objective-C. Software engineers who need to compose Objective-C programs for different platforms will benefit from this c programming book.
Table of Contents
I: Introduction to Objective-C 1
- C, The Foundation of Objective-C
- More About C Variables
- An Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming
- Your First Objective-C Program
II: Language Basics
- Messaging
- Classes and Objects
- The Class Object
- Frameworks
- Common Foundation Classes
- Control Structures in Objective-C
- Categories, Extensions, and Security
- Properties
- Protocols
III: Advanced Concepts
- Reference Counting
- Garbage Collection
- Blocks
19. C Programming – A Reference Manual
The goal of this book is to give you a complete and exact conversation of the C language. Complete novices in this language are recommended not to read this book as their first book as it is more like a reference manual rather than a book teaching all the basics of the language.
It expects that the perusers can comprehend essential programming ideas, and some will be experienced C software engineers. It is the perfect book for you if you are heading for an interview within a few days or you are preparing for an exam and want all the information in short inside one particular book.
Table of Contents
PART 1 The C Language
- Introduction
- Lexical Elements
- The C Preprocessor
- Declarations
- Types
- Conversions and Representations
- Expressions
- Statements
- Functions
PART 2 The C Libraries
- Introduction to the Libraries
- Standard Language Additions
- Character Processing
- String Processing
- Memory Functions
- Input/Output Facilities
- General Utilities
- Mathematical Functions
- Time and Date Functions
- Control Functions
- Locale
- Extended Integer Types
- Floating-Point Environment
- Complex Arithmetic
- Wide and Multibyte Facilities
20. The C Book Featuring The ANSI C Standard
For those of you interested in the new features of C language, this book is for you. Obviously, this book can be used to learn the language itself without any doubt, but it holds the upper hand for those who already know how to program in this language. C was the first programming language to be invented, so it is a bit intricate and requires hard work and effort to understand it completely.
This book will work extraordinarily for programmers wanting to learn more about this language. It will be easier to learn C after reading this book as it contains full-fledged C programs that act as wonderful examples to grasp new information.
Table of Contents
- Chapter 1 – An Introduction to C
- Chapter 2 – Variables and Arithmetic
- Chapter 3 – Control of Flow and Logical Expressions
- Chapter 4 – Functions
- Chapter 5 – Arrays and Pointers
- Chapter 6 – Structured Data Types
- Chapter 7 – The Preprocessor
- Chapter 8 – Specialized Areas of C
- Chapter 9 – Libraries
- Chapter 10 – Complete Programs in C
Finally, Insights
C language is undoubtedly popular for its amazing features and abilities. No matter how easy and comfortable it is to work using C, learning and specializing in this language requires a lot of diligence and is quite strenuous. Therefore, here we are to make that laborious job of yours super easy and effortless. We have amalgamated the top 20 C programming books so that you can choose from any one of these and give it a go.
We are open to all your suggestions and rectifications, so please feel free to comment below and let us know. Please share this information with your family members and friends so that everyone can benefit from it.
