[paedubucher]

Maybe the others here in the forum can tell me, why I should risk buying the pre-order (30% off), when I have no chance of reading a sample chapter yet. (I'm actually thinking of doing this, because I'm looking for a good second book on C after having worked through K&R before.)

When I see that Brian W. Kernighan releases a book, it's an instant buy for me.

[throwaway17_17]

It is a risk to by the preorder sight unseen. If you are not familiar with author and his style you could end up feeling like you wasted that money.

So until a preview chapter or similar is available I’ll through this link to Modern C, 2nd Ed by Gustedt. It has been well received and I thought Jens writing style was solid.

I don’t know if it is the perfect second book to read on C, but it seems well paced and things are well explained.

https://modernc.gforge.inria.fr/

[rcseacord]

I'm checking with No Starch if we have plans to release a sample chapter of this book. There is a list of previous articles I've written including sample chapters from my previous books on Secure Codign in C and C++ and the CERT C Coding Standard here https://www.informit.com/authors/bio/3312572e-d904-45d5-afcd...

Here is a newer article on Uninitialized Reads published by ACM https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=3041020

Jens and I are both on the C Standards committee. I would definitely say that our books serve different markets.

[throwaway17_17]

I have your book on Secure Coding and I have the latest version of Jens’ book as well. I like both your style and his, in terms of writing style and presentation.

If you think there is going to be a large difference in applicability and focus when comparing your ‘Effect C’ and Jens’ ‘Modern C’ I am kind of excited, not just to get your book, but also that even though some people would like to see C be relegated to the trash bin there is still some life left in a language I enjoy using.

[paedubucher]

Nah, fuqit, I'll just buy it ;-)

NoStarch never let me down so far, and paying USD 60 (or 40, or whatever) is such a marginal difference for a book you're going to spends dozens of hours on.

[clarry]

> for a book you're going to spends dozens of hours on.

Is that a feature? I'm constantly frustrated by books that use many words to say little. Wasting hours on such books tends to be negative value, and I shouldn't buy them even for two cents..

[rcseacord]

This book has a very concise writing style. I really wanted to keep it small enough to carry on an airplane (when we are allowed to fly again). I'm really proud of the final product and very happy with the editing staff at No Starch who helped me produce a very polished product.

[paedubucher]

Thanks for the insight! I really appreciate when the authors interact with the community.

Many books nowadays, also from NoStarch, are released as early access books. Your book does not run under the early access program, or at least not yet.

Is this a decision made by you as an author? Or is the kind of book not really suited for early access? I could imagine that introductory books work well as early access books; readers could work through the first couple of chapters, while later chapters are still being written or refined.

Just curious...

[billpollock]

We're getting caught up on our Early Access titles. Our staff is very particular about what they release and they don't like to put chapters in until they feel like they're really final. Given the current world situation I'm making sure that we relax that policy a bit and you'll see more books moving into Early Access in the next 2 or 3 weeks. Just a little hectic around my company at the moment.

[paedubucher]

My intention was really not putting pressure on the publisher as a buyer of this book. I rather wonder why certain books have an early access option and others don't.

I probably won't be able to read it before July, anyway, because I have to finish my bachelor's degree first. But I think it's not a bad time for a financial contribution to my favorite tech book publisher, so I already bought the book "blindly".

[rcseacord]

No, I usually defer decisions concerning the marketing and availability of the book to the publisher. I try to stick to the areas where I'm actually a knowledgeable expert.

[paedubucher]

Working through a technical book of any substance, as opposed to just reading or skimming it, will take dozens of hours, no matter how terse or verbose the style is.

The book is supposed to be around 270 pages, so verbosity probably won't be an issue.

I am right now working through "Python Crash Course" as an intermediate Python programmer. I very quickly read through chapters 1-8 so far and did all the exercises (rather simple ones), just to make sure that I'm not missing out anything on the basics. In the last couple of chapters, I actually picked up two or three pieces of knowledge I wasn't aware of. I spent around five to ten hours on this so far. This approach sounds terribly inefficient.

However, working through a beginner's book as an intermediate Python programmer, and only getting half a dozen of really new information out of it, gives me the confidence I need at this stage. So I don't consider it as a waste, but rather as an exercise in patience and repetition.

Why am I telling you all this? Because I think people overrate the monetary costs of books.

[clarry]

I kind of agree with your point, with the caveat that I just don't want to spend much money if I'm not getting much out of it. I'd happily buy a book for 200 eur if I knew it's going to be worth my time. In the recent years, I've mostly regretted the time I spent on books. Life is short, free time is scarce, and there are so many other things I could be doing.

In this case, I'm definitely curious about the book and would like to skim through it just to satisfy that curiosity, but I have my doubts as to whether I'll get much out of it (I've been writing C for 15 years and I do it professionally). Maybe there are gems of wisdom (or things I've overlooked) in it that would make it worthwhile, but it's possible I'd just regret the time and money spent :-(

[dvfjsdhgfv]

This is an interesting issue. I remember when I started studying discrete math, I actually bought two books. One was by Ross, and it's the one I prefer, but at places it was a bit terse. So when I had trouble understanding something right away, I looked at the same subject in Susanna Epp's book and usually I could find a relevant explanation or example straight away, but in the long term I couldn't stand this verbose style. (By the way, both books cost $80, but you can buy used copies at 1/10.)

[catilac]

I have the same frustration, though in this case I think given the author's expertise I imagine all the words actually contain much wisdom. Hopefully!

[wmwragg]

I've recommended this on here before, but I’ve found "Understanding and Using C Pointers" by Richard Reese, a really wonderful modern book on C.