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by unlucky 4831 days ago
I too started with scripting languages, and also learn in a similar way. Hearing the value that learning C provided you makes the decision to learn it myself a simple one.

To those versed in C, is the tutorial linked in the original article a recommended one?

2 comments

I would enthusiastically recommend Learn C the Hard Way, even over K&R (which hasn't aged well, for reasons LCtHW explains (http://c.learncodethehardway.org/book/krcritique.html)).
I personally didn't like Learn C the Hard Way at all. I can see the approach for Learn {language} the Hard Way (mostly examples and exercises) working well for languages like Python or Ruby but I felt that for C it was too vague and each exercise didn't really give me an idea of what I was learning/accomplishing. With the other languages you can get away with focusing on functionality but I think you really need a more indepth understanding in C to avoid headaches involved with the language. While C Programming Language by K&R is a little dated, I still think it gives you a better idea of learning the language or at the very least, how to navigate the code and find your answers better.

Disclaimer: I already knew C fairly well and decided to go through LCTHW to see if I could pick up any hidden gems; might differ for someone with little to no experience.