41–50 of 98 posts
Even though C is used more and more rarely outside of systems programming, I definitely recommend learning it. Learning about pointer arithmetic, memory management, etc... will give you a depth of understanding in other programming languages that other students will be sorely lacking the first few years of college. Other than a little OS-hacking on the side, I've never used it for a project, but understanding how C w…
Absolutely, yes. + From the point of view of Python or Java (say), it's close enough to assembly language to let you understand how things might work; + If you need speed or control over hardware, sometimes it's your best route to extend whatever you're working in; + In many jobs you'll be the only one who has the knowledge to do unusual things, hence you'll be more valuable; + It gives you another point of view when…
Nothing wrong with the pure languages as options, just I think impure languages can fit the categories too.
It's better if you dont ask! I don't believe that Linus ever asked (someone else) if he should learn C. Or that Damien Katz (couchdb creator) ever asked if he should learn Erlang. Or if Brad Fitzpatrick (Livejournal & Danga) ever asked if he should learn Perl! Just learn what you (from looking around) believe will make you a better or smarter, what is even more important use what you learn. Don't just learn to learn!
Yes, you should learn C. And enough assembly language to understand aspects of how C works, like what a "stack frame" is. Now is a great time to start. Go find K&R, fire up Linux and write and compile "hello, world". Then keep going until you experience your first segmentation fault. ;) (Do not study C++ at this point. Study C. These things turn out to be very very different.)
Yes, you should learn C. And enough assembly language to understand aspects of how C works, like what a "stack frame" is. Now is a great time to start. Go find K&R, fire up Linux and write and compile "hello, world". Then keep going until you experience your first segmentation fault. ;) (Do not study C++ at this point. Study C. These things turn out to be very very different.)
I've found that even though I now spend most of my time programming in higher level languages, my understanding of C and assembly, compilers and debuggers, the virtual memory model and system memory hierarchy, and CPU architecture are still very valuable in helping me reason about my code and how it interacts with the rest of the system. I also still have developers at work on the C development team occasionally come ask me code questions, and often the answers to their questions come down to understanding one of the above better. If you can master multiple levels of abstraction you will be a much more effective developer.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ahh, in that case learning C is a veritable goldmine! Edit: Also, if you use linux and end up going down the rabbit hole a bit, C is a prerequisite.
Being good at C can be very profitable in a money sense of the word too. Bloomberg is one example that hires a lot of C hackers and pays them obscure amounts of money (very very long hours though)
After you understand pointers and structs and have futzed around in the Unix command line for a while, you probably have enough to go on to something like Linux Programming by Example. This book walks through GNU implementations of Unix utilities and the system calls that make them possible.
You don't just want to run ls, you want to know enough that you can write ls by yourself. You want to learn how to manipulate the operating system with it. You will learn a mental model for how operating systems work in a deep, detailed way, which will serve you well no matter where you go.
If you want to understand how computers work, of course you will need to know assembler and c. This will give you the option to do things that other people can't.
If you want short term profit, you should choose other options.