The Little Book of C
Shares rank 71 of 115 programming books by recommenders
Recommended for explaining how learning C builds understanding of computers, operating systems and other languages. Critics doubt its technical accuracy and worry about hallucinated facts.
Recommended for explaining how learning C builds understanding of computers, operating systems and other languages. Critics doubt its technical accuracy and worry about hallucinated facts.
5 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 3
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 60%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not 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
- 3 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 1 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
Builds understanding of computers and OSes
“The author is right about C leading to better understanding of computers, OSes and other languages.”
Comment from 27 Mar 2026 in “The Little Book of C” Wanted a similar guide for Zig
“Wish they had this for zig”
Comment from 26 Mar 2026 in “The Little Book of C”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Doubts on technical accuracy
“Seems the technical accuracy wasn't improved very much, if at all.”
Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “Zig is so cool, C is cooler” “I wonder how many hallucinated wrong facts are in there.”
Comment from 26 Mar 2026 in “The Little Book of C”
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 Little Book of CThis page | 3 | 2 | 60% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
4 of the 5 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The author is right about C leading to better understanding of computers, OSes and other languages.”
“I wonder how many hallucinated wrong facts are in there.”
“Wish they had this for zig”
“Seems the technical accuracy wasn't improved very much, if at all.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.