How do people start building things in c ?

[clever wadi]

Hi , hope you'll are doing good . I'm new to C and learning fundamentals . I've been reading book C Programming A Modern Approach . Atm , I'm in chapter 8 (Arrays) however I've already started feeling burnt out while reading theory . Though there are exercises and project which I've been sincerely doing , I still don't see how people build things in c . I took a glance in last chapters and I noticed that even for the last chapters , there are just questions in both exercises and project , it doesn't really talks about building real life projects .

So i'm having second thought about reading the book , given that it mostly contains theory and only small questions . And wondering if I'm doing the right thing reading this book.

I would like to know your thoughts on this and give some guidance on my future learning in C.

Also maybe this helps in your advice, I'm completely new to C . but I've intermediate knowledge js.

[granite jasper]

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[dark tree]

You can't really do anything big until you understand the basics of the language (functions, pointers, structs)

In this book that seems to be around chapter 16

Then you come up with a project idea and start thinking how you can do it

[clever wadi]

I see , so proceeding with reading the book isn't a bad idea then . Though it gets boring after some reading 😅

[dark tree]

Maybe the book is too long 🤷‍♂️

Do you understand the topics you already read about, though? You say you did the exercises, maybe try to practice more?

It being boring is a sign that something isn't right

[clever wadi]

Yeah I've been doing most of those questions , skipped those questions which were based on same concept . Though even I solve 100s of question on each topic , I still wouldn't really feel confident about it , it's just coz I want to get things done perfectly and due to that I would be forever stuck doing same things again and again .

[dark tree]

Hmm, I see

[clever wadi]

I guess that's because I've been learning webdev adjacent to C , so in webdev you often build project after every theory . you can checkout my github if that helps https://github.com/devnchill

[dark tree]

I had a look at the K&R C book, and it's shorter, they finish structs by about page 140

While yours does it at like page 400

That's what I used to read

[clever wadi]

yup it sure is lengthy but if it's meant for beginners in c, I don't mind it

[dark tree]

But you say you got bored 😛

[clever wadi]

that's true as well , lol irony at its peak 😆

also I've a repo for documenting my c learning though it's private so you wont find it there 😅

[keen egret]

Learn the basics, do exercises, when ready put all those things together to write larger programs. Just don't be afraid to mistake in your way

[dreamy gull]

I can heavily relate with you. What I recommend is picking a small project, like writing a terminal version of Snake with C. Whenever you get stuck on that project, you'll naturally start googling the pieces you need, like arrays and functions. Eventually you move on to medium sized projects, and after that you'll be so good at C that you won't really need that book anymore. :)

[acoustic coyote]

do you also have that kind of feeling, like what the book covers doesn't seem sufficiently explained, and you just need to understand anything related to it and why it works? i have that too 😅

speaking of real life c projects, i think networking is the difference between real life and fancy beginner projects. don't take that as a real advice though, im still going through basics, im not a pro. but being able to work with the internet may spawn many interesting ideas for sure

[velvet mica]

Hey would using the learnc website be sufficient enough for now, and start a small project as soon as I finish learning the basics from that website?

[dreamy gull]

I don't know that website, but as soon as you get bored/frustrated with that website, you should start a small project, if not sooner

[clever wadi]

I'm learning basics however I'm not sure how deep do I need to dive into those topics because as you can see , book is approx 1000 pages.
Also when would I know if I'm ready ?

[clever wadi]

yup i'm thinking of doing that alongside as well 😅

[clever wadi]

yup though working on it to avoid getting hung up on same thing forever 😆

[dark tree]

Your book is suspiciously long compared to K&R C

[keen egret]

There is available a good pdffrom Miami University online. Try searching something like "Unix and c programming Miami"...

[acoustic coyote]

good that you're working on it, i should too

[velvet mica]

will look into this!

[velvet mica]

ok thank you!

[clever wadi]

sorry for the ping . did you mean this one ? https://www.cs.miami.edu/home/schulz/CSC322.pdf

[velvet mica]

I found the same thing too

[keen egret]

Yes. It is what I mean. For beginners

[clever wadi]

Thanks will take a look

[granite jasper]

@clever wadi Has your question been resolved? If so, type !solved :)

[clever wadi]

!solved