Welcome to comp.lang.c!

From: James Hu (jxh_at_despammed.com)
Date: 05/30/04

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    Welcome to comp.lang.c!

    This post is intended to give the new reader an introduction to reading
    and posting in this newsgroup. We respectfully request that you read
    all the way through this post, as it helps make for a more pleasant and
    useful group for everyone.

    If you are new to newsgroups in general, you can learn a lot about how
    to get the most out of newsgroups by reading the links below:

            http://groups.google.com/googlegroups/basics.html
            news:news.announce.newusers
            http://www.geocities.com/nnqweb/
            http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
            http://www.caliburn.nl/topposting.html
            http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html
     
    With that said, please keep in mind that comp.lang.c is a group for
    discussion of general issues of the C programming language, as defined
    by the ANSI/ISO language standard. If you have a problem that is
    specific to a particular system or compiler, you are much more likely to
    get complete and accurate answers in a group that specializes in your
    platform. Some common ones are:

    Languages and Programming

      news:comp.lang.c++ The C++ Programming Language
      news:comp.lang.asm.x86 x86 assembly language programming
      news:comp.programming Non-language specific programming
      news:comp.graphics.algorithms Issues of computer graphics

    Compilers

      news:gnu.gcc The gcc free C compiler
      news:comp.os.msdos.djgpp x86 version of the free gcc C
                                                  compiler
      news:comp.compilers.lcc The LCC family of C compilers
                                                  including LCC-Win32.

    Operating Systems

      news:comp.os.msdos.programmer DOS, BIOS, Memory Models,
                                                  interrupts, screen handling,
                                                  hardware
      news:comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.misc MS/Windows: Mice, DLLs, hardware
      news:comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.win32 MS 32-bit API
      news:comp.os.os2.programmer.misc OS/2 Programming
      news:comp.sys.mac.programmer.misc Macintosh Programming
      news:comp.unix.programmer General Unix: processes, pipes,
                                                  POSIX, curses, sockets
      news:comp.unix.[vendor] Various Unix vendors
      news:comp.os.linux.development.apps Linux application programming

    The FAQ (Frequently Asked Question) list has a wealth of information
    for both the new and veteran C programmer. No matter what your
    experience level, you are encouraged to read the entire list, if only
    to familiarize yourself with what answers are available to minimize
    redundant replies. The list may be ftp'd from rtfm.mit.edu, or an online
    version is available at "http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html". A
    handy list of subjects with HTML links is available at the end of this
    post.

    If the FAQ list does not help, then many regular readers of this group
    are happy to assist with problems of standard C. We have only a few
    requests that we ask be adhered to, for the benefit of all:

       * Please put a short summary in the subject line. Descriptions such
         as "HELP!!!!!!" are not helpful, and many regular posters ignore
         such requests. A good example is, "Problem with pointers and
         arrays."
       * State the question or the problem clearly and concisely. Describe
         what you are trying to do, and the problem you are running
         into. Include all relevant error messages.
       * Include the smallest, complete and compilable program that exhibits
         your problem. As a rule, posters in comp.lang.c will not do
         homework, but will give helpful hints if you have shown some
         willingness to try a solution.
       * comp.lang.c is forum for discussion, and as such some regular
         posters do not give E-mail replies. Very often follow-ups to
         postings have corrections, so plan on taking part in the discussion
         if you post a question. If you do receieve e-mail replies, it is
         considered polite to post a summary.

    A note on comp.lang.c etiquette: Accuracy is valued very highly in this
    newsgroup; therefore posts are frequently corrected, sometimes perhaps
    too harshly, and often to the annoyance of new posters who consider the
    correction trivial. Do not take it personally; the best way to fit in
    with comp.lang.c is to express gratitude for the correction, move on,
    and be more careful next time.

    Another note on comp.lang.c etiquette: Replies to articles should not be
    topposted, since this wastes the time of the reader. Instead, your reply
    should follow (or be interspersed with) the material to which you are
    replying. The quoted material should have anything not germane to your
    reply removed, and be headed by appropriate attribution lines.

    This is a very busy group, so these requests are designed to make it as
    pleasant and efficient an experience as possible. We hope it proves a
    valuable commodity to you.

       * OTHER RESOURCES

    In addition to comp.lang.c, there is a great deal of information about C
    programming available on the World Wide Web.

    Probably the definitive list of C resources on the web
    is Lysator Computer Society's Hotlinks to C Resoures:
    "http://www.lysator.liu.se/c/c-www.html".

    Many code snippits (algorithms) are available from the "snippets"
    collection by Bob Stout. It's available from http://www.snippets.org/,
    or alternatively via ftp from ftp.cdrom.com in /pub/algorithms.

    Web searches can often turn up source code more efficently than asking
    for it. Try "http://www.altavista.com", or "http://www.hotbot.com".

    Google allows efficient searching of Usenet. It is very likely that your
    query was covered recently, and the answer is only a search away. Try
    "http://www.google.com".

       * The comp.lang.c Frequently Asked Question subject list

    The FAQ list is maintained by Steve Summit (scs@eskimo.com). An
    excellent, much-expanded book version is also available; "C Programming
    FAQs", published by Addison-Wesley.

    The HTML version is located at
    "http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html". It may be ftp'd from
    "ftp://rtfm.mit.edu" in the directory /pub/usenet.

    The individual sections may be conveniently reached directly by using
    the following links:

    Declarations and Initializers http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/s1.html
    Structs, Unions, and Enums http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/s2.html
    Expressions http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/s3.html
    Pointers http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/s4.html
    Null Pointers http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/s5.html
    Arrays and Pointers http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/s6.html
    Memory Allocation http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/s7.html
    Characters and Strings http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/s8.html
    Boolean Expr's and Variables http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/s9.html
    C Preprocessor http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/s10.html
    ANSI/ISO Standard C http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/s11.html
    Stdio http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/s12.html
    Library Functions http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/s13.html
    Floating Point http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/s14.html
    Variable-Length Argument Lists http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/s15.html
    Strange Problems http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/s16.html
    Style http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/s17.html
    Tools and Resources http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/s18.html
    System Dependencies http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/s19.html
    Miscellaneous http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/s20.html

    Acknowledgements:

    Tim Behrendsen extensively revised an early version of this article,
    translating my ramblings into fairly coherent English. Most of the
    regulars of c.l.c have made useful suggestions at one time or another.

    Numerous others have made helpful suggestions to improve this post;
    I fear that if I were to list them all, the size of the post would
    double! You know who you are. ;)

    Feedback on this post is always welcome. Please send it to

    Billy Chambless <bchambless@psistennis.com>

    [ NB: The above address appears to be defunct. If you send ]
    [ feedback to me, I will update my semi-weekly post: ]
    [ James Hu <jxh@despammed.com> ]

     ... or post to the group.

    [ last changed: Mon 3 May 2004 ]


  • Next message: Joona I Palaste: "Re: 10 most used"

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