Becoming a C _developer_

From: Curious Student (estudiantin_at_rediffmail.com)
Date: 05/31/04 

Date: 31 May 2004 05:25:05 -0700

I've for long known the C syntax and I like it very much. I can easily
understand C programs and I've myself written lots and lots of Win32
API code. However, since my mainstay has been VB, I'm not at all
confident of calling myself a C programmer and I still believe I do
not know C. That is true because when I look at projects on
SourceForge, I do not see myself as capable as re-creating that stuff.
I can't write sound editors, zip/compression apps, binary editors et
al.

As a self-analysis, I believe I know the C syntax but I score rather
measley on the vocabulary. So I ask you gurus: what's your advise to
someone who's known _only_ the C syntax for a long period of time now,
say more than 6 years, has done some Windows Programming but nothing
else in C. What's your tip to this self-learner who wants to take the
next step in writing apps alike those that feature on SourceForge.
Where do I look next? How do I improve my C vocabulary? Should I first
browse the standard library documentation? What next? I believe C in
itself is such a small language with a very general function set
dealing with basic data types in the standard library. Am I right in
assuming that for doing a particular non-generic application like the
ones mentioned above, I'd have to depend on a library and read its
documentation? Do these developers developing, say, a database
application that provides a C front-end connecting to a MS SQL Server
database do the connection thing from scratch in C or do they rely on
an external pre-packaged library?

How do I proceed improving my vocabulary? I want to quickly begin
writing a useful application that I can proudly boast of.

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