A course including lectures, slides, exercises and solutions, which teaches the foundations of the C Language to prepare you to learn Java or C++

• 10 lectures (over 7 hours of audio) with 298 slides, including exercises at the end of each lecture.
• Includes mini-lectures that walk you through the exercise solutions!
• Listen to free introductory lecture here
• $50 + 7$ shipping & handling in the USA; additional 7$ outside the USA
• Works with Windows95/NT, Windows 3.1, Power Macintosh, Linux, and any other platform that supports the RealPlayer

Page contents

Thinking in C: Foundations for Java and C++ Programming is a short course that prepares software developers to tackle today's most in-demand object-oriented programming languages. In the rush to master the object-oriented paradigm, it is altogether too easy to pass over fundamental language features that are key in using these languages effectively. Through clear exposition and to-the-point illustrations, this course effectively bridges the gap. Topics include: lexical elements, control structures, functions, data structures, I/O, pointers, and the preprocessor. This is not an exhaustive course in C; only the necessities for moving on to the other languages are included. An extra section covering features for the C++ programmer is included that can be skipped by those going on to Java only. Prerequisite: experience with a high-level programming language, such as Pascal, BASIC, FORTRAN, or LISP.

Why Thinking in C?

We often get questions similar to this one:

I am not sure about the appropriateness of your CD, why would people first dive into C to learn Java? I read Bruce Eckel's Thinking in Java, which is the best introduction into Java and OO I have seen so far (and many people seem to agree on this).

Chuck responded:

The main reason for the Thinking in C CD was because too many of the folks that Bruce, I and others have taught didn't have a good handle on the basics (primitives, simple pointer indirection, how multi-dimensional arrays really behave, etc.) and most courses/books just skip this stuff. The CD is just a quick run-through of those basics so one can hit the ground running and not be confused by what an object reference is in Java, or why floating-point arithmetic isn't exact. It was driven by the need perceived from our training experience. It's pretty much the intro stuff for Java and C++ which is common to the two languages. Most people react the way you do, but when they jump in to learning the language, they have to keep backing up to these preliminaries. If instead they take 7 hours and go through this, it saves a lot of headaches later on.

By the time you finish the Thinking in C CD Training Course, you will be comfortable with:

• Data types

• Operators

• Control structures

• Functions

• Arrays & structures

• Basic pointer usage (especially passing a pointer, basic indirection)

In addition, you'll learn:

• Casts

• A little about const, and const parameters

• Scope

• Heap basics

• Lifetime (auto, static, dynamic)

• The basics of C++, so you can create and compile some simple C++ programs

• The basics of Java, so you can create and compile some simple Java programs

There is minimal use of the Standard C library, since we encourage both Java and C++ folks to use the Right Stuff in their chosen language.

The CD contains the entire "Thinking in C" training seminar. This is more than 7 hours of audio synchronized with 298 slides of information. We believe that it continues the standard for value set by the Hands-On Java CD ROM.

The Thinking in C CD-ROM is in RealMedia format and uses audio extensively. RealPlayers for Windows and Macintosh are shipped with the CD-ROM, but you can also download the latest directly from RealNetworks. Any platform that can support the RealPlayer can use this CDROM.

This contains the the full introductory lecture from the CD ROM. The lecture is a RealMedia presentation.  If you don't have the most recent version of the RealPlayer, you can download it for free from http://www.realnetworks.com.The sound quality of the demonstration lecture is far from that of the CD, but the whole lecture is only 2MB long, making a download feasible.

If you click here, you will be taken to the introductory page for the CD, which leads you through the process of installation and then takes you to the table of contents page, where you may listen to the lecture as a feed from the Web server. Please note that while you are seeing the table of contents for the CD Rom, only one link — that of the free demo lecture — will be active; all the other links are left in so you can see what's available on the CD.

If you wish to download the lecture for local storage, click here: ftp://mindview.net/pub/eckel/Thinking-in-C-CDROM/ and select Chapter1.rm (no "a" in the suffix). Make sure you set your FTP program to "binary" mode, and not "ascii" mode. If the downloaded file is not 2,054,233 bytes, then you've probably incorrectly used "ascii" mode.

Before purchasing the CD, we recommend that you first install the RealPlayer (if it is not already on your system) to verify that it works on your machine, and then listen to the above lecture to see if you like the style and content of the CD (remember that the quality on the CD is better than that of the downloadable lecture). The CD Does contain 4 versions of the RealPlayer (The G2 player for Windows 95/NT, and the 5.0 player for Windows95/NT, Windows 3.X, and for Macintosh) but by downloading and trying it first, you'll avoid surprises.

To order using Visa, MasterCard or Check, select one of the links below.

The cost of the CD is $50 plus $7 shipping and handling in the US. Overseas shipping is an additional $7. If the CD is shipped to California you'll also need to pay an additional sales tax of 7.75% per CD. These values are given on the order form.

If you cannot order by credit card, you can order by mailing the order form along with a US check drawn on a US bank or an international postal money order. Payments should be to MindView, Inc. (Tax ID 91-1825155).

Orders will be mailed out using first-class mail or international airmail for overseas orders, within one day of receipt of your order. Our rapid turnaround should give you a reasonable delivery time in most cases, but if you want high-speed delivery service via Fedex (domestic or international), you must contact to find out the additional cost (please note that some countries — the UK in particular — have particularly slow customs, so you may want to consider Fedex if you know it's a problem).

Boxed orders of 25 or more CDs shipped to the same address are $40 per CD (plus tax if shipped to California), plus shipping and handling which will be determined for your order.

The federal tax ID number to use is 91-1825155. Address for Tax Reporting (not for orders) is:

MindView, Inc.
5343 Valle Vista
La Mesa, CA 91941

Here is the official Tax ID Form

Review copies are available to members of the technical press who write on the topic of programming or training. To receive a reviewer's kit, please send a request to with a brief explanation of your plans.