Beej's Guide to C Programming [pdf]

Previous discussions with notable engagement:

- Feb 2023, 284pts, 64 comments: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34946811>

- March 2023, 115pts, 37 comments: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35338074>

- April 2021, 507pts, 172 comments: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26911399>

- September 2017, 427pts, 79 comments: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15198093>

Worth noting that there are changes on a regular basis: <https://github.com/beejjorgensen/bgc>

I learned about beej when I started the Vortex wargame on OverTheWire (https://overthewire.org/wargames/vortex/vortex0.html). I emailed him about an error in the part about loops, and he told me he'd fix it, but never did. Only years later when I got nostalgic and went to reread that part of his guide, did I realize there had never been a bug, I'd simply misunderstood the code, and he had humored me.

I'm such a huge beej fan.

This is a better link as it provides more formats, including ones that (unlike PDF) work well on mobile: https://beej.us/guide/bgc/

Beej is an incredible author. His networking guide is not only succinct and informative, it's also very funny. He's got a great writing style.

There was a thread a month or two back showing off some more of his guides, including this one. Going to download some of these for a long flight coming up. Huge thank you to Beej for the incredibly high quality content at no cost. There's also a paperback of at least the network programming guide available to support (great gift to give to a junior engineer).

Beej's guides are great. As for C, you also need the mandatory companion guide: A Guide to Undefined Behavior in C and C++ (https://blog.regehr.org/archives/213).

Beej taught me half of what I know about network programming and unix sockets. The dude deserves a medal for the work he has done over the decades.

If you're ever in Bend, beej shows up at these events pretty regularly: https://www.meetup.com/deschutes-tech-guild/

I need to learn rust for work. Since beej doesn't seem to have a guide for rust, what's the next best thing? :)