Robert K. wrote in post #1133642:
On Sun, Jan 19, 2014 at 3:24 PM, Alarm B. [email protected]
wrote:i. it’s the foundation of many other languages; if you understand C,
it’s pretty simply picking up most anything else like Jave, Obective-C,
C++, Python, Ruby, Perl, etc.That’s like suggesting to learn physics if your intention is to
understand chemistry because physics is the basis. But that is not
needed when being introduced to chemistry. The abstractions provided
by chemistry work pretty well by themselves.
No, it’s not Robert. It’s analogous to someone saying “I want to learn
science, but I don’t know where to start” and answering, “start with
physics then, because everything else comes from that.”
C is still a widely used programming language in itself, and I still
find it necessary at times when doing something like app development in
certain IDEs (if you need to dig down beyond what the frameworks offer
you). It’s also highly useful if you ever intend to start mucking about
in the innards of operating systems or programming hardware
devices.
Having said all that, I agree with the previous poster to a certain
extent, that weighing the pros and cons of this language or that is
probably just wasting time you could be spending actually learning one.
On top of that I’d say the other major factor is not so much which
language you choose, but that you choose good learning materials. You
could be put off programming for life if you pick a book that is poorly
written and poorly organised. I’ve seen more badly written computer
books than I’ve seen good ones, which is another reason why I recommend
C and the Kernighan & Richie book. Ideal tutorial material that’s been
attested to over the years and is still rated today as the best C
programming book ever written.
As to your last question, the K&R book covers ANSI C.