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Comment by daenz | Hacker News Reader

C really is fantastic language to learn. When I learned it, I also came from the scripting language world (Python, PHP). Having that as a base, then learning C, lead to revelations about how those scripting languages are created, and how the data structures I took for granted in a scripting language are actually implemented.

From what I understand in formal CS courses, you learn from the bottom up, but learning from the top down was much more enlightening for me.

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I went in the other direction and it was enlightening too. I learned how useful hash tables can be, and that a word count algorithm need not be a complicated assignment full of segmentation faults. :-)

I also learned how data structure libraries can be separated from user code (when learning C in class we usually created ad-hoc data structures heavily coupled with the calling code).

> I took for granted in a scripting language are actually implemented.

Exactly. Not only that you but I had started to appreciate the scripting language (Python) more because I see much it does for you. I knew that before but actually seeing how one would have to handle reference counting, error handling it is nice to go back to Python.

I too started with scripting languages, and also learn in a similar way. Hearing the value that learning C provided you makes the decision to learn it myself a simple one.

To those versed in C, is the tutorial linked in the original article a recommended one?

I would enthusiastically recommend Learn C the Hard Way, even over K&R (which hasn't aged well, for reasons LCtHW explains (http://c.learncodethehardway.org/book/krcritique.html)).

I personally didn't like Learn C the Hard Way at all. I can see the approach for Learn {language} the Hard Way (mostly examples and exercises) working well for languages like Python or Ruby but I felt that for C it was too vague and each exercise didn't really give me an idea of what I was learning/accomplishing. With the other languages you can get away with focusing on functionality but I think you really need a more indepth understanding in C to avoid headaches involved with the language. While C Programming Language by K&R is a little dated, I still think it gives you a better idea of learning the language or at the very least, how to navigate the code and find your answers better.

Disclaimer: I already knew C fairly well and decided to go through LCTHW to see if I could pick up any hidden gems; might differ for someone with little to no experience.

You can learn that with any language that compiles to native code, nothing special about C.

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