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Vax C Programmers Guide by Jay Shah Recommended

ISBN: 0-07-056402-7       Publisher: McGraw-Hill       Pages: 520pp       Price: £34-95 hardcover

Categories:   beginner's c

Reviewed by Chun Wong in C Vu 5-4 (May 1993)

The whole book is well structured with each chapter being fairly self- contained with clear sample code introducing how C is used to maximise the power of the Vaxes. It works best as a first reference rather than a replacement for the DEC manuals (claimed by the blurb at the back).

The book is divided into four main areas: Vax C programming language, Vax/Vms environ-ment, Vax programming tools, and the various libraries.

Although there is an introduction to programming in C, it is very brief and talks to readers who are already familiar to other languages such as Fortran or Pascal. However, it explains the various components well. More importantly, it highlights the differences between Vax C and standard C.

The Vax/Vms system itself is explained clearly with lots of diagrams and examples on how to maximise the use of the operating system to the user's advantage. It covers the basics of moving and monitoring the system, using the on-line help effectively, the built in text editors and performance issues of the hardware.

DEC provides various add-on tools which are generic to all its programming languages, and includes a debugger, library management, code analysers, and programmer's editor. Again, plenty of examples are given on how these can be used, including screen dumps from various types of monitors of sample runs.

A large portion of the book is devoted to the libraries available for Vax programming covering the basic standard C functions, accessing Vms, distributed programming, screen management and networking. Though there are several hundred basic functions that C can access, the book limits itself to explaining in detail some of the more commonly used functions with clear examples. It groups them into common categories making it easier to find the right function.

Finally, the book also contains a complete utility program for substituting text in files, which gives a good idea of how to write a complete program on a Vax.

Overall, I found the book very easy to read and understand. This book is ideal as a kick-start guide as many of the larger sample programs provide an ideal starting point to program from, and compared to DEC manual prices offers excellent value for money.