Software engineering in C

Introductory exposition (textbooks, tutorial papers, etc.) pertaining to computer science (68-01) General topics in the theory of software (68N01) Specification and verification (program logics, model checking, etc.) (68Q60)

Review text

The authors consistently apply, as design principle of the book, the formula ``A good program not only works, but is easy to read and maintain. The first four chapters present the necessary elements of a C program, the hierarchy of C data types and their corresponding declarations, the C shape of the classical programming schemes. Chapters 5-9 illustrate the C operators and expressions, and the specific problems of data structures, including pointers: self-reference, passing, initializing, assigning and returning, linked lists, function prototypes and function argument passing. Chapter 10 is concerned with the main problems of C preprocessor: macro processing, additional C source files, conditional compilation, and the American National Standard Institute (ANSI) features: using a macro name in its own definition, the (five) built-in macros. Chapter 11 describes the standard I/O library according to the ANSI standard, which combines the Kernighan and Ritchie (K \& R) standard with the UNIX I/O library. Chapter 12 offers a detailed analysis of a ``good programming style, emphasizing both its good and poor elements. Instructive examples illustrate the computer-aided software engineering that facilitates efficient software production, maintaining and debugging. A significant part of the book constitute the six appendices: (A) The ANSI runtime library; (B) The syntax of ANSI C; (C) The implementation limits according to the ANSI standard; (D) The differences between the ANSI and K \& R standards; (E) Reserved names; (F) A C interpreter listing. Conclusions. The book has (at least) two incontestable qualities: (1) A special (possibly, one of the best) text design to learn the good programming style: among the graphic devices must be mentioned the boxes describing the specific structures of both standards, the ANSI extensions, the ``bug allerts boxes to warn against the common errors. (2) It is the first book clearly containing the ANSI standard and its specific differences with the other approaches, mainly the K \& R standard. For higher sophisticated programming techniques can be consulted and other (already) classical texts, but this one is indispensable for the moment, let they be beginners or advanced programmers in C language.

Cited in

(9)

This page was built for publication: Software engineering in C

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q4039723)