Essay-writing
A few months ago I was talking to a friend who was intending to learn C, having previously only worked with higher-level languages. We had a conversation about the assorted (and mostly painful) culture shocks that C is liable to deliver to someone whose previous experience of programming is rather less user-hostile, and afterwards I thought, hmm, that turned out to be quite a lot of potentially useful and more or less organised information, perhaps I should write it up.
It's taken me a few months to get round to it and to fill in the last few pieces, but it's now done. In case anyone reading this finds it useful, or knows anyone else who would, I present http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/cdescent/.
This is a bit of a departure from the usual kind of article I write and put on the web. It's about the only thing I've written that's purely educational in nature, in the sense that it rehashes material well known to many for the benefit of those who don't already know it, rather than presenting stuff I've invented myself and don't expect anyone to already know. For some reason that makes me feel noticeably more nervous about its reception (perhaps because there's scope to be vigorously criticised by both its intended audience and people who already know the material and think I've got it wrong). But I hope someone finds it useful, anyway!
Also at Dreamwidth. (
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