How to learn C program for an absolute beginner?

Question

I want to develop iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad application buy I don't know where to start. People have told me to start with C. I was wondering what you guys can tell me as far as where I should start for TOTAL beginner. Which programming language should I learn first and how?

Answer 1

Learn Objective-C

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Programming in Objective-C 2.0 by Stephen G. Kochan

- http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Objective-C-2-0-Developers-Library/dp/0321711394

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Code::Blocks == Open Source C/C++ IDE

- - codeblocks-10.05mingw-setup.exe

- http://www.codeblocks.org/downloads/binaries

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Installing Objective-C Compiler // Follow the instructions

- http://wiki.codeblocks.org/index.php?title=Installing_Objective-C_Compiler

Answer 2

It doesn't really matter what language you start with you could even do it with obj c as the first language, but I don't recommend that because it's not well established in terms of use (you won't find good teaching material for it, so it is better to start with a different language to learn then when you got a grasp on programming in general do the switch).



So how to learn, the best way is to go pick up a book. The library has some that are free (or at least the should have a c++, heavens it is a very old language.) Alternatively if you find a mentor that is welling to teach that will be just as good, but well make the process faster.

Answer 3

I for one don't think C is a good language for beginners. It forces you to deal with stuff like memory management and pointer arithmetic, and makes it really easy to shoot yourself in the foot without realizing it. Something like Java would be easier to start with.



That said, if you want to start with C, the very first thing you have to do is make sure your system is set up so that it can compile C source code into an executable. Once you have that done, you can compile a very short program, and then start adding more functionality to it to learn and practice new concepts.