C and Pointers

Pointers on C is a classic C programming textbook written by Kenneth Reek, professor of computer science at Rochester Institute of Technology. The Chinese edition was translated by Xu Bo and published by Posts & Telecom Press in its "C and C++ Classics" series. The book has 18 chapters and takes pointers as its central thread, systematically linking the core topics of C: it begins with basic syntax such as data types, statements, operators, and expressions, then explores the nature of pointers, the relationship between pointers and arrays, pointers and functions, strings and character handling, structures and unions, dynamic memory allocation, and advanced pointer topics such as function pointers and pointers to pointers. The later chapters cover the preprocessor, input/output functions, the standard library, and classic abstract data types implemented with pointers—linked lists, stacks, and queues—as well as the runtime environment and memory layout of a program. Drawing on years of teaching C and consulting in engineering, the author intersperses abundant example code with "Summary of Warnings" and "Summary of Programming Tips" that point out common pitfalls and recommended practices. Each chapter ends with questions and programming exercises, and the appendix gives answers to some of them, so readers can practice as they read and check their progress. Unlike textbooks that emphasize introductory syntax, this book assumes some prior programming background and focuses on helping readers truly master pointers and memory—the hardest and most crucial part of C. This 2020 printing is a relatively recent impression of the standard simplified-Chinese edition, 441 pages in total.