The C Programming Language
Brian Kernighan, Dennis Ritchie
124 people recommended it in 48 threads, 2008–2026.
24 commenters pushed back on it — worth reading the threads.
What people on Hacker News said
It showed me that a technical book can be concise, well written and enjoyable to read.
I've been working through K&R C and have been doing exactly what the article says--read the code, understand how it works, then write it. When it breaks, go back and learn why.
IMHO, this lesson is its notion of programming style: terse, small, efficient. It permeates the whole book and C/Unix design but the book is not explicitly about it.
If I knew a kid who was "interested in computers", but there was no one around to give them a helping hand I'd definitely give them a copy of CODE and The C Programming Language.
But K&R’s book explained the language, how it worked, and how to program — in the most primitively satisfying way.
K&R is still the best book on C. Short, simple and accurate.
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