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The Turbo C Survival Guide by Larry Miller & Alex Quilici Recommended

ISBN: 0-471-61708-3       Publisher: Wiley       Pages: 550pp       Price: £22.95

Categories:   borland     beginner's c

Reviewed by Alan Cocks in C Vu 3-2 (Jan 1991)

It states that there are special features such as complete useful, sizable, programs, pictorial descriptions of data structures and algorithms, and plenty of programming exercises.

I found this preface to be very informative and it made me look forward to the rest of the book.

Certainly to gain much from the book the reader would have to have gone past the novice stage in programming and also I think, in C. Generally things are explained right from first principles though rather briefly, satisfactory as reminders for those familiar with C but not, I think for the rest.

I found the introductory chapters too brief for a first introduction to C and rather condescending. Perhaps the author has tried to cover too much ground.

It is Turbo C specific in some areas as you would expect from the title. Although I am already familiar with Turbo C, I found these areas useful and interesting. E.g. the neat summary of the Turbo C environment in about four pages, is most helpful if you have not digested the product's manuals.

As I went through the book in the review process, my attitude about it steadily changed. The first two chapters put me off slightly. I suppose that after the build up of the preface I had expected a more gentle run-in to the C language, or less pretence at initial tuition.

However, by about chapter 5 I had warmed a bit. The book has an authoritative air to it and there were things that I was finding out. Not particularly about Turbo C but about C and programming in general. By about chapter 7 the warming had continued and by 10 I was sure that when browsing through the shop bookshelves I would have wanted to buy it. The strange thing is that I might not normally have picked it up, because the title is so Turbo specific and I would usually be seeking general wisdom. Which ironically is what the book gives. The Turbo specific bits I think of as a bonus. A book like this is not needed to "survive" with Turbo C whatever the title says, the environment is pretty self explanatory and friendly. What is so difficult to obtain is the sort of experience that would come with much use of programming in C.

This book does give some of that sort of "experience". It will help to broaden and deepen knowledge of using C if you are prepared to work at it a bit. At the end of every chapter there are some exercises. The bad news is that there aren't any answers given.

The Borland Turbo C version 2 Reference Guide (1988) says that it "supports the draft ANSI C standard which, among other things, allows function prototypes..." . Supporting a draft standard is not the same as being certified compliant (at the time of writing this review only JPI Topspeed C has obtained its compliance certification for MSDOS machines).

Having said that, the sections on functions, prototypes, and "old" style declarations and definitions, answered important questions for me and were very useful and informative.

The book shines in areas of C that, as a beginner, you probably did not understand too well, but are now prepared to have a crack at.

Yes, as claimed, there are complete, useful, sizable programs. Some of the pictorial descriptions of data structures and algorithms were a little skimpy and the general style of these was pedestrian.

The book has a slightly serious air to it and you will love it for what you learn, not for what you see or feel.

The layout with wide margins and somewhat squashed text and the positioning of displayed source code is not to my liking. Perhaps the editors responsible for such decisions should seek advice from those using books like this one.

Apart from this, it is a book I would buy for its content and get good value from and I do recommend it to you.

Comment: I had to drastically cut this review from Alan because of space limitations so any inconsistencies etc. are entirely my fault. - Francis Glassborow.

Quilici
Joy of C (3 ed), The by Lawrence Miller & Alexander Quilici [Recommended]  (Reviewed Sep 1997)