Choosing a language

[Ralph Corderoy]

Hi,

> My advice is that after you get comfortable with Python and start in
> on C or one of its derivatives (C++, Java, etc.), pick up and read
> Kernighan and Ritchie's "The Practice of Programming".  It is IMO one
> of, if not the best, general programming books I've ever read.  There
> is multiple language coverage of nearly the entire process program
> development.  Others may disagree, but I think it is a great book.

It is a most excellent book.  But it is _The Practice of Programming_
by Kernighan and Pike, not Ritchie.

Kernighan and Pike also wrote the superlative _The Unix Programming
Environment_ which gets across the philosophy of Unix and I still
heartily recommend it for any Unix user or programmer.  After all,
isn't every Unix user a programmer once little shell scripts come into
play.

In short, if Brian Kernighan wrote it, buy it and read it, put it on
the shelf, read it again after six months lest you forget.

Same goes for Jon Bentley's _Programming Pearls_ series.


Ralph.