The publication of The C Programming Language changed the computing world. Personal computers have the same capabilities as the mainframes of a decade ago. C has spread far beyond its origins as the language of the UNIX operating system, although only modestly.

The growing popularity of C, the changes in the language over the years, and the creation of compilers by groups not involved in its design combined to demonstrate a need for a more precise and contemporary definition of the language than the First edition of this book provided. An unambiguous and machine-independent definition of the language C was the goal of the committee established by the American National Standards Institute in 1983. The standard for C was created by the American National Standards Institute.

The structure assignment and enumerations are examples of constructions that were not described in the first edition. A new form of function declaration allows cross-checking. It has an extensive set of functions for performing input and output, memory management, string manipulation, and similar tasks. It makes precise the behavior of features that were not spelled out in the original definition, and at the same time states explicitly which aspects of the language remain machine- dependent.

The second edition of The C Programming Language describes C. We chose to write exclusively in the new form because we have noted the places where the language has evolved. The most visible change is the new form of function declaration and definition. Most features of the standard are supported by modern compilers.

The first edition was short. C isn’t well served by a big book. The exposition of pointers, which are central to C programming, has been improved. New examples have been added in several chapters. The treatment of complicated declarations is augmented by programs that convert them into words. All examples have been tested directly from the text.

Our attempt to convey the essentials of the standard in a smaller space is what Appendix A is about. It is meant for easy comprehension by programmers, but not as a definition for compiler writers. The standard library has a summary in Appendix B. It is not meant for implementers. The changes from the original version are summarized in Appendix C.

We said in the first edition that C wears well as one’s experience with it grows. We feel that way with a decade more experience. The book will help you learn C and use it well.

C is a general-purpose programming language that has an economy of expression, modern control flow and data structures, and a rich set of operators. C is not a very high level language, nor a big one, and is not specialized to any particular area of application. Its generality and lack of restrictions make it more convenient for many tasks.

It is said that the languages are more powerful.

Dennis Ritchie designed C for the UNIX operating system. The operating system, the C compiler, and all of the software used to prepare this book are written in C. It is easy to write programs that will run on any machine that supports C because it is not tied to any particular hardware or system.

A reference manual and separate chapters on each major feature are included in the book. Most of the treatment is based on reading, writing and revising examples. Most of the examples are complete, real programs. The examples have been tested directly from the text. Also showing how to make it.

We have tried to use the language in an effective way.

Good style and sound design have principles.

The book assumes some familiarity with basic programming concepts like variables, assignment statements, loops, and functions. Although access to a more knowledgeable colleague will help a novice programmer, they should be able to read and pick up the language.

C has been used for a wide variety of programs. It is easy to learn, and one’s experience grows with it. The book will help you use it well.

–This text refers to the paperback edition.

A man named Brian W. Kernighan. He received a PhD in electrical engineering from Princeton in 1969 and a BASc from the University of Toronto in 1964. He was a member of the Computing Science Research center at Bell Labs until 2000 and is now a professor. He co-created several programming languages, including AWK, AMPL, and a number of tools for document preparation. He holds 4 technical papers and is the co-author of 10 books.

There are patents. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. He studies programming languages, tools and interface that make computers easier to use for non-specialist users. He is interested in technology.

Education for non-technical people.

Dennis Ritchie was a computer scientist notable for his influence on ALTRAN , B , BCPL , C , Multics , and Unix .

–This text refers to the paperback edition.