Re: Learning C

"Nick Keighley" <nick_keighley_nospam@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
Richard G. Riley wrote:
"Nick"posted the following on 2006-03-11:
Richard G. Riley wrote:
"Chris"posted the following on 2006-03-10:
Richard G. Riley wrote:
"Nick"posted the following on 2006-03-10:

I thought you were implying Linux was better because the
*debugger* was

There is no "the debugger" : although gdb is prevalent in Linux -
albeit with several front ends.

"debugger" / "debuggers" whatever. I've used ddd.

ddd is a front end to gdb.

I know

better. I've never stepped through an existing application
(that wasn't broken) with a debugger. If you say it's a good
way to learn C, who am I to argue.

I stress that I talking about "stepping through an application". I have
*no*
objection to examining existing code. One way to learn is to look at
good
examples (and sometimes at bad).

And how can stepping through an app be bad? Were you never put onto a
new project with a code base of several hundred thousand lines of code
and told to isolate some relatively bugs to get you familiar with the
code base?

about a year ago I was put on 750 kloc application. I had no previous
experience with the application. And limited experience with the
programming language. I did not step through the code with a debugger.
[...]

If I might summarize:

Richard G. Riley really likes debuggers. Not everyone else likes them
as much as Richard does.

I believe that covers all the relevant points.

Next?

--
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@xxxxxxx <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
San Diego Supercomputer Center <*> <http://users.sdsc.edu/~kst>
We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Learning C online?
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  • Re: Learning C online?
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    (comp.lang.c)
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    (comp.lang.c)
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    (comp.lang.c)