Reference and Selective Reading

You do not need to read the source books front-to-back for this module. Use the concept pages and practice pages first. Open these local chunks only when you need alternate exposition, more worked examples, or a deeper exercise lane.

Source Roles

Source	Role	Why it is here
The C Programming Language (K&R, 2nd ed)	Primary teaching source	Most compact canonical explanation of every C language feature at this module's scope
Computer Organization and Design (Patterson & Hennessy)	Selective support	Strongest explanation of the translation pipeline, what the assembler produces, and what the linker does
Code (Petzold)	Background only	Optional second-pass intuition for the bytes, words, and codes the C abstract machine rests on
SICP	Light support only	Opens occasionally when abstraction thinking is the real gap, not C syntax

Read Only If Stuck

Cluster 1: The C Mental Model

• K&R: Getting started
• K&R: Variables and arithmetic expressions
• K&R: Pointers and addresses
• K&R: Appendix C - Summary of changes
• COD: Translating and starting a program
• COD: Translating and starting a program (Part 2)
• COD: Translating and starting a program (Part 3)
• CODE: Bit by bit by bit
• CODE: Bytes and hexadecimal

Cluster 2: Types, Expressions, and Control Flow

• K&R: Variable names
• K&R: Constants
• K&R: Type conversions
• K&R: Conversions (A.6)
• K&R: Increment and decrement operators
• K&R: Bitwise operators
• K&R: Precedence and order of evaluation
• K&R: Assignment expressions (A.7.17)
• K&R: Statements and blocks
• K&R: Loops - while and for
• K&R: Break and continue
• K&R: Statements (A.9)

Cluster 3: Functions, Scope, and Storage Classes

• K&R: Functions (1.7)
• K&R: External variables and scope
• K&R: Basics of functions (4.1)
• K&R: Functions returning non-integers
• K&R: External variables (4.3)
• K&R: Scope rules (4.4)
• K&R: Initialization
• K&R: The C preprocessor (4.11)
• K&R: External declarations (A.10)
• K&R: Scope and linkage (A.11)
• K&R: Preprocessing (A.12)
• K&R: Macro definition and expansion (A.12.3)
• K&R: Meaning of identifiers (A.4)

Cluster 4: Arrays, Strings, and I/O

• K&R: Arrays (1.6)
• K&R: Character arrays (1.9)
• K&R: Pointers and function arguments
• K&R: Pointers and arrays
• K&R: Address arithmetic
• K&R: Character pointers and functions
• K&R: Pointer arrays - pointers to pointers
• K&R: Multi-dimensional arrays
• K&R: Command-line arguments
• K&R: Complicated declarations
• K&R: Character input and output (1.5)
• K&R: Standard input and output (7.1)
• K&R: Formatted input scanf (7.4)
• K&R: File access (7.5)
• K&R: Error handling - stderr and exit (7.6)
• K&R: Appendix B - Standard library
• K&R: Appendix B - Standard library (Part 2)

Cluster 5: Structuring C Programs

• K&R: Basics of structures (6.1)
• K&R: Structures and functions (6.2)
• K&R: Arrays of structures (6.3)
• K&R: Pointers to structures (6.4)
• K&R: Self-referential structures (6.5)
• K&R: Table lookup (6.6)
• K&R: typedef (6.7)
• K&R: Unions (6.8)
• K&R: Bit fields
• COD: Translating and starting a program (Part 4)
• COD: Translating and starting a program (Part 5)

Optional Deep Dive

• K&R: Word counting - classic small program used throughout the book
• K&R: Low-level I/O - read and write - preview of Module 4 systems I/O
• K&R: Example - an implementation of fopen and getc
• K&R: Example - a storage allocator - sets up Module 2's malloc
• K&R: Appendix A.1 - Introduction to the reference manual
• COD: Representing instructions in the computer - useful if the assembly output from gcc -S is still opaque
• CODE: Bytes and hexadecimal
• CODE: From ASCII to Unicode

Concept-to-Source Map

Primary concept	Best source if stuck	Why this source
C Is a Portable Assembler	K&R: Pointers and addresses	Shortest statement of the address-of-object model
The Translation Pipeline	COD: Translating and starting a program	Clearest stage-by-stage walkthrough with diagrams
Primitive Types and Integer Widths	K&R: Type conversions	Integer promotion and conversion rules in one place
Operators and Sequence Points	K&R: Precedence and order of evaluation	Canonical table plus the sequence-point caveats
Functions, Declarations vs Definitions	K&R: Basics of functions	Prototype rules and the compilation-unit model
Scope, Linkage, Storage Classes	K&R: Scope and linkage (A.11)	Formal statement when intuition fails
Arrays Decay to Pointers	K&R: Pointers and arrays	Canonical explanation of array-to-pointer conversion
C Strings and Buffer Safety	K&R: Character pointers and functions	Most concrete treatment of the null-terminated contract
Standard I/O	K&R: Standard input and output	Best reference for printf, scanf, fgets at this scope
Structs, Unions, typedef	K&R: Basics of structures	Cleanest first pass through aggregate types
Header Organization and Modular Builds	K&R: External declarations (A.10)	Formal rules for declaration / definition / linkage at file scope