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macOS Mac-Specific C programming resources

F

FluJunkie

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 17, 2007
618
1
Hey all. I'm finding myself in need of learning C, mainly to collaborate with a colleague who has a massive code base in C, and who is comfortable hammering out stuff in that language, and too busy to learn another.

Any decent resources for starting to learn C, specifically learning C that will end up getting implemented on a Mac Pro?
 
P

PatrickCocoa

macrumors 6502a
Dec 2, 2008
751
149
Not a colleague

FluJunkie said:
Hey all. I'm finding myself in need of learning C, mainly to collaborate with a colleague who has a massive code base in C, and who is comfortable hammering out stuff in that language, and too busy to learn another.

Any decent resources for starting to learn C, specifically learning C that will end up getting implemented on a Mac Pro?
Click to expand...

If he determines what language you two are going to collaborate in, he's not a colleague, he's the project lead. Essentially your boss for this project.

If he's taking the authority to determine the language, he must take the responsibility to get you trained in that language. Otherwise you're in some dysfunctional (but all too common) situation where the passive-aggressive know-it-alls poison the work environment.

Talk to your management, it's their job to determine who gets what resources and what each project should entail.
 
balamw

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,366
979
New England
If this is a less formal setting than a workplace, e.g. academia, you may wish to consider looking at recent threads by cybrscot and larswik, who were both learning C on the Mac using various resources.

This book might help too:
http://www.amazon.com/Learn-C-Mac-Dave-Mark/dp/1430218096 :p

You might also want to tell us more about the field of endeavor, and your own backgroud, for example one of MR's users has a pretty decent book that would be useful for learning C for scientific needs, Mac or not. http://www.curly-brace.com/

B
 
F

FluJunkie

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 17, 2007
618
1
PatrickCocoa said:
If he determines what language you two are going to collaborate in, he's not a colleague, he's the project lead. Essentially your boss for this project.

If he's taking the authority to determine the language, he must take the responsibility to get you trained in that language. Otherwise you're in some dysfunctional (but all too common) situation where the passive-aggressive know-it-alls poison the work environment.

Talk to your management, it's their job to determine who gets what resources and what each project should entail.
Click to expand...

Or, alternately, *she* happens to have a massive codebase of things she's done that will vastly speed up things over writing it all from scratch myself, and even if I translated it to a language I'd prefer, I'd still need to be familiar with C.

The rest of your post is filled with enough conjecture that I'm not going to bother addressing it, save that you're considerably off base.

balamw said:
If this is a less formal setting than a workplace, e.g. academia, you may wish to consider looking at recent threads by cybrscot and larswik, who were both learning C on the Mac using various resources.

This book might help too:
http://www.amazon.com/Learn-C-Mac-Dave-Mark/dp/1430218096 :p

You might also want to tell us more about the field of endeavor, and your own backgroud, for example one of MR's users has a pretty decent book that would be useful for learning C for scientific needs, Mac or not. http://www.curly-brace.com/

B
Click to expand...

Thanks for the pointers.

I am indeed in academia - generally speaking, I stick to either Python or statistical software, so what you've posted is probably a good place to start :)
 
S

Sander

macrumors 6502a
Apr 24, 2008
521
67
FluJunkie said:
I am indeed in academia - generally speaking, I stick to either Python or statistical software, so what you've posted is probably a good place to start :)
Click to expand...

If you decide to go for my book (thanks for the plug, balamw :) ) I'm here to answer the occasional question.
 
F

FluJunkie

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 17, 2007
618
1
Sander said:
If you decide to go for my book (thanks for the plug, balamw :) ) I'm here to answer the occasional question.
Click to expand...

It's speeding its way to my house via Amazon as we speak, and I appreciate the offer.
 
L

larswik

macrumors 68000
Sep 8, 2006
1,552
11
I highly recommend the book that balamw suggested, Learn C on the Mac. I got frustrated learning Object-C and stepped back to C and picked this book last summer. Well written, easy to follow, good examples and not overly wordy.

I stepped into Obj-C thinking Apress books were the way to go. But Learn Objective-C from Absolute Beginners is frustrating and disappointing and plagued with typos and jumps all over the place. Not a good book for beginners because they don't know whats wrong when the code will not compile.

But Learn C on the Mac is a great book.

-Lars
 
J

Jethrotoe

macrumors regular
May 24, 2009
223
0
Somewhere over there.
larswik said:
I highly recommend the book that balamw suggested, Learn C on the Mac. I got frustrated learning Object-C and stepped back to C and picked this book last summer. Well written, easy to follow, good examples and not overly wordy.

I stepped into Obj-C thinking Apress books were the way to go. But Learn Objective-C from Absolute Beginners is frustrating and disappointing and plagued with typos and jumps all over the place. Not a good book for beginners because they don't know whats wrong when the code will not compile.

But Learn C on the Mac is a great book.

-Lars
Click to expand...

I second this book! I have a number of books for Obj C/Cocoa, but saw this on Amazon where you can 'take a look inside'. I liked the style so much that I got it. The authors writing/teaching style is excellent. I wonder if he has one for Obj C? I have to go take a look.

OP - Do yourself a favor and get this book (I do NOT personally know the author).

[EDIT] HA! Just saw that you said you were getting the book. Good luck.
 
L

larswik

macrumors 68000
Sep 8, 2006
1,552
11
Jethrotoe said:
I wonder if he has one for Obj C? I have to go take a look.
.
Click to expand...

I was wondering the same thing, to funny. I read the C book but when I got the Learn Objective-C for Mac book I got lost pretty quick. It assumed that you had been programming in C for a while and was not a good book to step to from just finishing the C book.
 
J

Jethrotoe

macrumors regular
May 24, 2009
223
0
Somewhere over there.
larswik said:
I was wondering the same thing, to funny. I read the C book but when I got the Learn Objective-C for Mac book I got lost pretty quick. It assumed that you had been programming in C for a while and was not a good book to step to from just finishing the C book.
Click to expand...

I have no background in any C language. After reading (not totally absorbing) a number of Obj C books I decided to fall back on C for some 'background'. I figured it couldn't hurt and a lot of posts here suggested such.

Just looked on Amazon at his other books. Didn't see one on Obj C but he does have a few for iPhone SDK and Cocoa.

There was one that I think I'm going to pick up because it sounds totally intriguing. http://www.amazon.com/Behavioral-Mathematics-Game-Dave-Mark/dp/1584506849/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1308700576&sr=1-3
I'm not into writing games but the math applied here sounds deep.
 
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