Buy new:
-47% $29.04
FREE delivery Wednesday, June 5 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Ships from: Amazon.com
Sold by: Amazon.com
$29.04 with 47 percent savings
List Price: $55.00

The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price.
Learn more
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Wednesday, June 5 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Only 3 left in stock (more on the way).
$$29.04 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$29.04
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$14.24
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
Very good condition per Amazon standards. Very good condition per Amazon standards. See less
FREE delivery Tuesday, June 4 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$29.04 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$29.04
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Herbert Schildt
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

C: The Complete Reference, 4th Ed. 4th Edition

by Herbert Schildt (Author)
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$29.04","priceAmount":29.04,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"29","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"04","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"LyfHqjuPYJudzx%2Fpz7QPRoKE40810KbYduDIg63G%2FBlQrJB5MkN48cFhWNQt246OR5Fa1wywLPfyqMta7t%2F1Gm7qxTW09WFhwu0KyVG3HHoQyEPS61DQLdrPcHp6P2WPCNLQ%2BR7iYvI%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$14.24","priceAmount":14.24,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"14","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"24","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"LyfHqjuPYJudzx%2Fpz7QPRoKE40810KbYnx7ZAztVZlS0ZZb2x4o5ZdZtLsfC%2BKiShSPDMr%2Fv5TaBTH07zCjm09mT5WmAZTg0xOoGV3KUwv2VH3OVdaLweTrIPa8qm1oKa3jgAJhQ1l8kT65Iy%2BGyYYiZBiE40scu%2FD5WuNp73jHa4bB4v3T%2FWYcd1zulaPwW","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

Publisher's Note: Products purchased from Third Party sellers are not guaranteed by the publisher for quality, authenticity, or access to any online entitlements included with the product.




Whether you are a beginning C programmer or a seasoned pro, the answers to all your C questions can be found in this one-stop resource


Another gem from Herb Schildt--best-selling programming author with more than 2.5 million books sold! C: The Complete Reference, Fourth Edition gives you full details on C99, the New ANSI/ISO Standard for C. You'll get in-depth coverage of the C language and function libraries as well as all the newest C features, including restricted pointers, inline functions, variable-length arrays, and complex math. This jam-packed resource includes hundreds of examples and sample applications.
Previous page
  1. ISBN-10
    0072121246
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0072121247
  3. Edition
    4th
  4. Publisher
    McGraw Hill
  5. Publication date
    May 17, 2000
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    7.3 x 2.2 x 9.1 inches
  8. Print length
    805 pages
  9. See all details
Next page
Amazon First Reads | Editors' picks at exclusive prices

Frequently bought together

C: The Complete Reference, 4th Ed.
$29.04
Get it as soon as Wednesday, Jun 5
Only 3 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
C Programming Language, 2nd Edition
$53.60
Get it as soon as Tuesday, Jun 4
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
C Programming Absolute Beginner's Guide
$21.68
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Sold by Selling all the goods and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
spCSRF_Control
Some of these items ship sooner than the others.
Show details Hide details
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Overall, this is still one of my favorite C books. -- Scott McMahan, UNIXReview.com, July 10, 2000

From the Back Cover

The Ultimate Resource on C—Thoroughly Updated for the New C Standard.

A new ANSI/ISO standard for C, called C99, has been recently adopted and Herb Schildt, the world's leading programming author, has updated and expanded his best-selling reference on C to cover it. Whether you are a beginning C programmer or a seasoned pro, the answers to all your C questions can be found in this one-stop resource. In this authoritative guide, Schildt details the C language, its libraries, and applications, providing insider tips, hundreds of examples, and expertly crafted explanations. As a special bonus, the book concludes by developing a C interpreter, which you can use as-is or expand on your own! And just as you'd expect, everything is presented in the clear, concise, uncompromising style that has made Herb the choice of millions.

Inside you'll find:

  • Comprehensive coverage of the C language, including both C89 (the original version of C) and the new features added by C99
  • Detailed explanations of each keyword, data type, and operator
  • In-depth discussions of pointers, disk I/O, and dynamic allocation
  • Complete descriptions of the entire C function library
  • Descriptions of the new features added by C99, such as restricted pointers, Boolean and complex data types, the inline keyword, variable-length arrays, and the long data types
  • Real-world algorithms and applications, such as stacks, queues, trees, sparse arrays, and sorting. You'll even learn about Al-based searching techniques
  • Tips on working efficiently in the C programming environment
  • Advice on porting and debugging
  • Complete source code for a C interpreter that you can use as-is enhance to fit your needs

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ McGraw Hill; 4th edition (May 17, 2000)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 805 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0072121246
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0072121247
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.39 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.3 x 2.2 x 9.1 inches
  • Customer Reviews:

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Herbert Schildt

Herbert Schildt

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Called "one of the world's foremost authors of books about programming" by International Developer magazine, best-selling author Herbert Schildt has written about programming for over three decades. His books have sold millions of copies worldwide and have been widely translated. Featured as one of the rock star programmers in Ed Burns' book "Secrets of the Rock Star Programmers", Schildt is interested in all facets of computing, but his primary focus is computer languages. He is the author of numerous books on Java, C, C++, and C#. Schildt holds BA and MCS degrees from the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
88 global ratings
This has been an excellent reference book from a beginner's perspective.
5 Stars
This has been an excellent reference book from a beginner's perspective.
Hide
Thank you for your feedback
Sorry, there was an error
Sorry we couldn't load the review

Top reviews from the United States

Daniel Morgan
5.0 out of 5 stars VERY EDUCATIONAL
Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2024
Verified Purchase
Im really enjoying this book. It explains topics clearly and even when it uses sample programs it explains them. Im glad I bought it. But considering its a about 20 year onld book it is falling apart on me. Thats not how I got it used but the glue wouldnt hold any more. But its recommended.
Helpful
 Report
B. L. Ridenhour
5.0 out of 5 stars Helps turn Sophmores into Juniors
Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2007
Verified Purchase
[Helpful? Not? Please vote.] :: Mr. Hayes is undoubtedly a competent C programmer. This book isn't intended for him, nor anyone else who patently needs no introduction to the basics. For example: If you know and understand and can recognize fundamental differences between compilers (perhaps you've written a compiler or two yourself?) ... you likely don't need this book. If you know and understand different program extensions or have a nuts-n-bolts understanding of portability issues ... you likely don't need this book. If you're porting code across platforms in the first place ... I digress. I just hated to see the first review of this book rate it so poorly by being so obviously slanted or geared to the competent and experienced programmer ... Similarly, "Green Eggs and Ham" isn't really a Comparative Literature text either.

This book is for new-ish programmers. I think it's specifically for undergrads who don't want to memorize the minutia of every single string function in C. Plain, vanilla C-code is all about syntax, order of operation and algorithms of the native functions. Most students understand how to solve labs on paper, but can't translate it to the infernal foreign language that is C-code. C is no mystery, and it's about exactness and handling every single possible input. It's also about reserved words, declaring and using data types and structures, and basically completing lab assignments, for the first 3 years or so. After that, C, C++, JAVA, whatever ... you know programming, and can find out what you need to complete any program in any language once you have the basics well in hand. Having taught at the University level, I find Schildt to be very good at making Sophomores out of Freshmen, and Juniors out of Sophomores. Beyond that, it's only a once-in-a-while grab to look up some small thing or another ...

I used this book for undergrad and grad CS studies. It is THE preeminent reference for plain, vanilla C-language coding. It has data types, quirky ways compliers and loaders treat certain operations, and lots of "details" that you just can't and probably shouldn't remember unless you use them every day. This is the encyclopedia of C-language details, in a reference format; something lacking from K&R's books, which can have you searching and reading on a topic for some time, only to find an answer of limited utility. I do LOVE K&R's book(s), but it took a couple of years before I was fluent enough to really absorb their prose, which is no doubt, a more advanced treatment of what you can do with C. This "Schildt manual", as we called it in school, is more about HOW to do something, once you know WHAT you want to do ... This will not solve algorithm problems for you, per se, but if you're looking for the string operation that will make what your algorithm calls for easiest, they're all in here, explained with syntax and order of operations in plain English. I would hate to think what my undergrad years would have been like without this book. Worth the $$ at twice the price. (of course, people have found intermittent instances where this book was no help, or even outright wrong ... welcome to computer science and math ... ain't it grand?!?!? ... "Hilbert, meet Godel" :-)

After an MS in CS, multiple applications and system level programming projects, several years in industry, and having taught introductory C-programming for 7 semesters, if I could have ONE and only ONE reference book on the C-language, this would be it. The "class time" instruction is available on any online C-coding tutorial ... the unforgiving nature of code/logic makes "correctness" imperative. Correctness is in the details. The details are in Schildt's C Reference, and they're easy to find ... thus, you can finish your lab, take a shower and make it to the party with all your friends, instead of sitting in the lab, sweating whether to use strtok() or strstr(), while your youth and "fun years in college" are ever more fleeting. Believe me, you have better things to do than try to solve a second year lab assignment using Kernighan & Ritchie ... ( K&R = "the authors", so reverently mentioned in several prior reviews, JIC that isn't common knowledge). Their books, and afrementioned reviews of this book, though correct in probably every way, are sort of like Microsoft Help Topic answers (Seebach's page contains rants from other would-be authors who seem to wish that they'd not only had the idea to write this book before Schildt, but also employed their many computer-geek buddies to help them edit it better as well. Neither happened.). To put K&R's work, as relates to the beginner, into the MS Help Page perspective:

[ A helicopter was lost in the fog near SeaTac airport, radar was down, and they were flying blind. Suddenly, from the mist, appeared a large building. As people gathered by the windows to gaze at the helicopter, the passengers scrawled a sign for the onlookers, "Help! Where are we?". A few disappeared into the cubicle farm and returned with a sign reading, "You're in a helicopter!" The pilot promptly turned the chopper around, and said that's Microsoft headquarters, SeaTac is this way. "How can you know that?" they inquired. He replied, "I know it was Microsoft b/c that was a technically correct, but totally useless answer." ] That was the feeling I got early on while reading K&R. They now occupy a place of high importance in my library, but I could've held off on that purchase for some time ... just my opinion. Use Schildt until you get your parchment, then go off and organize a maverick and superior disposition of your own, like Schildt's detractors. The problems with the book are piddling compared to what it has to offer, and are unlikely to be an issue for it's intended audience.
15 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Jeffrey
5.0 out of 5 stars Good book
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2024
Verified Purchase
Good book
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Tea
4.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading for modern C99
Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2023
Verified Purchase
I like the examples given in the book. Really helped me hone in on C skills.
Helpful
 Report
Leo Boulton
5.0 out of 5 stars The title speaks for itself: Complete Reference
Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2004
Verified Purchase
Before buying this book, I hesitated because of the negative feedback. I own Java2 5th Ed. from Schildt, and I though a book in C would be good too.

After reading the entire C fourth Edition I came with the following impression: I wish I had found this book before!.

It is designed for engineer-type guys: People who wnats to read, what they need. It doesn't go for pages on silly explanations, nor it circles around topics. It doesn't even say things like: "to find out more about linked lists, go to page 310".... I hate those!.

It is just that: a Complete reference. I guess people who is an absolute beginner will find it a little bit more advance (try getting one of those "Learning C in X days" books). If you know something about C, but are not an expert. This is the best reference for you when you need to quickly code something. Of course, it won't be usefull if you want to write a millions of lines program, or something extremely complex. If you need a reference for the C standard Library, this is it.

Don't expect it to be an advanced book on Networking, or Real Time processing... it is just a book for Standrad C.
7 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Jonathan H.
5.0 out of 5 stars Tremendous Reference Volume
Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2022
Verified Purchase
Thorough, comprehensive, well-organized, and the material reaches deep, to explain how a particular feature works and in some cases, how it was developed. Anyone learning C will be better grounded with this great book within reach. Even seasoned programmers can gain from the depth.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Leonard J. Turrietta
5.0 out of 5 stars All software tutorials should be written this way!
Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2017
Verified Purchase
i did all the coding examples and read the entire book from cover to cover.

on a linux laptop using GNU gcc and i learned a great deal. this book will be on my shelf for the rest of my engineering career.

almost all the coding examples worked. this book is totally self contained. the best part of any software tutorial study. all you need is a C compiler and text editor.

you don't need a bunch of fancy downloads.

i wish all coding books were written this way.
6 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Dwayne Brock
5.0 out of 5 stars This has been an excellent reference book from a beginner's perspective.
Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2022
Verified Purchase
Customer image
Dwayne Brock
5.0 out of 5 stars This has been an excellent reference book from a beginner's perspective.
Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2022
Images in this review
Customer image
Customer image
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

FridayJunior
5.0 out of 5 stars This Book is Great!
Reviewed in Canada on July 27, 2021
Verified Purchase
I ordered a second hand textbook from a bookstore in the United States named, C: The Complete Reference Paperback – May 17 2000. It is a little bit older but has added information that is still in practice today and I didn't get a book with writing or highlighters in it. It was excellent quality and I am happy with my purchase, thank-you!
Report
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars The C programmers ultimate reference
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 1, 2024
Verified Purchase
Great book, well written and informative reference. OK it's not something you would normally read cover to cover, I did try, but it's a great reference for when you really are stuck on a problem.
One person found this helpful
 Report
Madhusudan
5.0 out of 5 stars Good for beginners
Reviewed in India on July 5, 2019
Verified Purchase
This books is good for programmer who just started learning programming
Report
Mr. Vincent J. Butler
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book now out of date.
Reviewed in Australia on September 14, 2020
Verified Purchase
I like the thoroughness of this book although some of the advanced topics are skimmed over. The web resources are no longer available and typing in source code is a major task now. I didn't need to practice typing this much.
Report
Fran
5.0 out of 5 stars Good service
Reviewed in Germany on February 25, 2013
Verified Purchase
Everything was in order and according the delivery times. The package arrived in good condition, as well as the book.
Report