[Home Page] - [Reviews Main]

Expert C Programming, Deep C Secrets by Peter van der Linden Highly Recommended

ISBN: 0-13-177429-8       Publisher: Prentice Hall       Pages: 352pp       Price: £26-50

C++ and C Debugging, Testing, and Reliability by D Spuler Highly Recommended

ISBN: 0-13-308172-9       Publisher: Prentice Hall       Pages: 338pp + disk       Price: £19-18

Categories:   testing     writing solid code     advanced c     debuggers

Reviewed by Francis Glassborow in C Vu 6-6 (Sep 1994)

I have previously published reviews of David Spuler's two earlier books and in this new book he continues his theme of addressing methods for improving the quality of you code. It is hard to do this book justice in the space I have. David exhibits an encyclopaedic knowledge of the causes of bugs and defects in C/C++ programs. He manages to cover problems ranging from ancient code using now defunct operators (e.g. =+) through to problems with using exception handling in C++. Of course it is easier to document potential problems with ancient code than to cover sources of difficulty with the most recent introductions but David is conscious that working programmers need both ends of the spectrum as well as what comes between.

If I were going to run a course on improving code quality and removing bugs and defects from C/C++ code David's book would certainly be on the reading list as essential reading. By the way, the book comes with a disk of material worth mining and the text is sprinkled with references to material that can be obtained from ftp sites. Now turning to Peter van der Linden's book which also aims to help with removing errors from your code. Peter's target is much more limited because he is focusing almost entirely on C (he does devote a small amount of attention to C++ at the end). The first thing that will strike you is that the author obviously enjoys programming and is not reluctant to let his enthusiasm show. He has researched his material exceptionally well but manages to present it in a lively fashion that will keep a smile on your face. Of course if you think programming is too serious a subject for humour you will hate the author's style and so miss a wealth of new insights. For example, Peter gives the clearest exposition that I have ever seen as to how the myth that arrays are pointers gets perpetrated. He also clearly explains why this is not only a fallacy and dangerous but where the consequences of this misconception will do damage.

The author suggests that those thinking themselves 'experts' should buy his book for a friend - or at least tell the bookseller that. Seriously, the expert should read this book before passing it on. The novice will need to read it several times until its contents are thoroughly mastered. I hope to see much written by Peter van der Linden because he makes difficult ideas easily accessible. If you have read Andy Koenig's C Traps and Pitfalls (0- 201-17928-8) you should still read Peter van der Linden's book. I think that both these books are ones that you should make the effort to get and read. If I were your manager I would not accept any excuses.

van der Linden
Just Java (2nd ed) by Peter van der Linden [Highly Recommended]  (Reviewed Jul 1997)
Just Java 1.1 and Beyond 3ed by Peter van der Linden [Highly Recommended]  (Reviewed Mar 1998)
Just Java 1.2 (4th ed) by Peter van der Linden [Highly Recommended]  (Reviewed May 1999)
Just Java by Peter van der Linden  (Reviewed Jul 1996)
Not Just Java by Peter van der Linden [Highly Recommended]  (Reviewed Nov 1997)