I think it says something that K&R C, as a book, is significantly more readable and concise than most programming books nowadays. Part of it is the language, but part of it is simply how the book is approached. Simple statement, simple example, move on.
I mean, compare that book to the other programming books on your shelf. It is positively minuscule. And if you compare the writing to that in a more modern programming book, there's certainly a lot of wasted text in newer books.
My latest programming book is The Essential ActionScript 3.0 by O'Reilly, and there's way too much embellishment in the text. Not only does it make it longer to read, but it also makes it harder to find particular information, and quickly absorb it.
I learned C almost exclusively from K&R C, and I know many others did too, and to this day I wonder how it is that all these new programming language books can be such monolithic texts.
I found Doug Crockford's "Javascript: The Good Parts" to have the same qualities as K&R's C book. Concise, readable and dense, a 'must read' for aspiring Javascript programmers.
I mean, compare that book to the other programming books on your shelf. It is positively minuscule. And if you compare the writing to that in a more modern programming book, there's certainly a lot of wasted text in newer books.
My latest programming book is The Essential ActionScript 3.0 by O'Reilly, and there's way too much embellishment in the text. Not only does it make it longer to read, but it also makes it harder to find particular information, and quickly absorb it.
I learned C almost exclusively from K&R C, and I know many others did too, and to this day I wonder how it is that all these new programming language books can be such monolithic texts.
"Essential", they say.