دانلود کتاب چرا باید زبان C را یاد بگیریم؟

That’s a question I see asked by many beginning (and some intermediate) program- mers. Since you’re reading this preface, perhaps you have the same question. Con- sidering that C was created in 1972 and that many more modern languages have been created since, it’s a fair question. Somewhat obviously (since this book exists), I believe the answer is “Yes.” Why? A few reasons: 1. Modern languages have many features for things like data structures (e.g., dy- namic arrays, lists, maps), flow control (dynamic dispatch, exceptions), and al- gorithms (e.g., counting, iteration, searching, selection, sorting) as part of the language (either directly built-in or readily available via their standard libraries). While convenient, the way in which those features are implemented “behind the curtain” has to be done in a general way to be applicable to a wide variety of programs. Most of the time, they work just fine. However, occasionally, they C is a fairly minimal language and has almost none of those things. If you want any of them, you’re likely going to have to implement them yourself. While onerous, you’ll be able to tailor your implementations to your circumstances. Knowledge of how to implement such features from scratch and understanding the trade-offs will serve you well even when programming in other languages because you’ll have insight as to how their features are implemented. 2. Many systems and some scripting languages (e.g., Python) provide C APIs for implementing extensions. If you ever want to write your own, you’ll need to know C. 3. Many open-source software packages upon which modern computers and the In- ternet still depend are written in C including Apache, cURL, Exim, Git, the GNU compiler collection, Linux, OpenSSL, Postfix, PostgreSQL, Python, Sendmail, Wireshark, Zlib, and many others. If you ever want either to understand how those work or contribute to them, you’ll need to know C. 4. Embedded systems are largely developed in C (or C++, but with restrictions). If you ever want to work on embedded systems, you’ll likely need to know C. 5. C has influenced more languages than any other (except ALGOL). If, in addition to programming, you also have an interest in programming languages in general or from a historical perspective, you should know C. I’m not suggesting that you should learn C intending to switch to it as your pri- mary programming language nor that you should implement your next big project in C. Programming languages are tools and the best tool should always be used for a given job. If you need to do any of the things listed in reasons 2–4 above, C will likely be the best tool for the job.