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copied!<p><strong>C is simple to learn, difficult to master. as a Java programmer the barrier will be memory and structure</strong> .. and undoing the damage Java <em>may have</em> done to the algorithm producing portions of your brain ;)</p> <p>I would recommend getting familiar with the GCC toolchain on your Linux box, through tutorials on the Internet. Then read <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_C_Programming_Language_(book)" rel="noreferrer">The C Programming Language</a>, and a copy of <a href="http://ladweb.net/" rel="noreferrer">Linux Application Development</a> doesn't hurt. Also, on Linux <a href="http://library.gnome.org/devel/glib/" rel="noreferrer">glib</a> will save you from reinventing the wheel ... but at least try to create your own linked-list, hashmap, graph and other API to learn. Pointer arithmetic, arrays and learning that elements such as structs are just named-offsets in a binary chunk are all important. Spend time with <code>malloc</code> and <code>free</code> and memcheck. With C, your tools and toolchain are very important and the IDE isn't necessarily your friend when learning.</p> <p>I would pick C over C++ as C is a good foundation to get used to the memory management and pointer usage of C.</p> <p>The best thing you can do is <em>apply</em> what you learn to a real project. But be prepared to bash your head against the wall allot in <a href="http://valgrind.org/" rel="noreferrer">Valgrind</a> and <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/" rel="noreferrer">GDB</a>. I have been programming C for years, and I am still no C monk.</p> <p>I do agree that C is a great language, it shows up a bad programmer. But remember:</p> <blockquote> <p>Any sufficiently complicated C program contains an ad hoc, informally-specified, bug-ridden, slow implementation of half of Common Lisp.</p> </blockquote> <p>The moral of which is learn other languages too, rather than just C-derived ones! Consider some Lisp dialect, Erlang (which is cool at the moment), Haskell, etc. They will expand your horizons from the 2x2 cell of Java. Consider looking at <a href="http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/" rel="noreferrer">SICP</a> too.</p>

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