The C Programming Language, 2nd edition
The C Programming Language, 2nd edition by Kernighan and Ritchieby Kernighan and Ritchie
Shares rank 100 of 115 programming books by recommenders
People recommend it as a route to learning C quickly, with one reader saying they picked up C99 in a week. No caveat recurs among the quotes.
People recommend it as a route to learning C quickly, with one reader saying they picked up C99 in a week. No caveat recurs among the quotes.
2 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 2
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 2 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Lets readers learn C99 quickly
“You can read The C Programming Language 2nd edition and pick up C99 in a week”
Comment from 24 Dec 2025 in “Fabrice Bellard Releases MicroQuickJS” Praised as a great book
“It's a great book, although it's forcing me to admit that I need glasses”
Comment from 26 May 2026 in “Nobody cracks open a programming book anymore”
Other programming books people recommend
The four most recommended other programming books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crafting Interpretersby Robert Nystrom | 60 | 4 | 94% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Clean Codeby Robert C. Martin | 31 | 87 | 26% | 9 | — | — |
| The Pragmatic Programmerby Hunt and Thomas | 28 | 1 | 97% | 7 | — | Approved |
| How to Design Programsby Felleisen, Findler, Flatt and Krishnamurthi | 18 | 2 | 90% | 7 | — | Approved |
| The C Programming Language, 2nd editionby Kernighan and RitchieThis page | 2 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
All 2 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It's a great book, although it's forcing me to admit that I need glasses”
“You can read The C Programming Language 2nd edition and pick up C99 in a week”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.