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C Programming FAQs by Steve Summit Recommended

ISBN: 0-201-84519-9       Publisher: Addison-Wesley       Pages: 388       Price: £20-95

C Programming, Just the FAQs by Paul Chisolm

ISBN: 0-672-30561-5       Publisher: Sams       Pages: 430       Price: £19-50

Categories:   reference     beginner's c

Reviewed by Francis Glassborow in C Vu 8-4 (May 1996)

Both books list the questions near the start, both provide a measure of cross-referencing but only Steve Summit gives references to other texts ( ISO C, K&R etc.). These references are valuable when you wish to follow up an answer. They also demonstrate that Steve has done his homework (very thoroughly)
A second difference is that Steve's book is specifically about C, he has nothing to say about such extensions as 'far' and 'near' nor does he use any space to cover Windows questions (surely a sensible decision, as Windows programming merits an FAQ book all of its own). The team of authors writing the other book are far more PC oriented and provide a whole chapter of answers to Windows questions. They also wander off to questions that have nothing to do with C (What is the difference between 'Exception Handling' and 'Structured Exception handling'?) It is clear that the SAMS book is aimed at PC programmers that happen to be using C(or possibly a C++ compiler for C) while the other contender keeps focused on pure C questions.

The last difference is the source of the questions. Steve has spent the last six years maintaining the C FAQ list for Internet's (actually usenet) comp.lang.c. This means that his questions are derived from those that users (all be it often novices) ask and the answers have usually been developed interactively by many more experts than just the author. The book contains about three times as many FAQ s as those in the online list.

The authors of the other book do not explain where they got the questions though I deduce from the meagre introduction that they drew up the list for themselves (presumably based on some experience). I cannot find any details about the authors in the book (some of them I know from other books). The book has the feel of one commissioned by the publishers and so probably contains questions that the authors think should be 'Frequently Asked' (for the ignorant an FAQ - pronounced fac' is a 'frequently asked question' in Internet jargon.)
The last point to note is that the general layout and typography of the Addison-Wesley book is up to its usual high standard.

If you haven't already worked it out, I think ' C Programming FAQ s' is well worth the extra £1.45. However if you only ever use MSDOS /Windows ' C Programming, Just the FAQ s' might just contain a couple of answers that would swing the balance for you.