Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This text aims to enable the reader to program in the Linux operating system and solve real-world Linux programming problems in just 21 days. It is designed to make the transition to Linux programming simple, with numerous examples and a step-by-step approach.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction
• Getting Started with C for Linux Programming (p. 1)
• This Book's Special Features (p. 1)
• Example 1 (p. 2)
• Example 2 (p. 2)
• Making a Better Book (p. 3)
• Conventions Used in This Book (p. 4)
• Week 1 At a Glance (p. 5)
• Where You're Going (p. 5)
• Day 1 Introduction to Linux and the C Programming Language (p. 7)
• Why Use C? (p. 8)
• Preparing to Program (p. 9)
• The Program Development Cycle (p. 10)
• Getting Started with Linux (p. 16)
• Day 2 The Components of a C Program: Code and Data (p. 27)
• A Short C Program (p. 27)
• The Program's Components (p. 29)
• A Review of the Parts of a Program (p. 33)
• Storing Data: Variables and Constants (p. 36)
• Variables (p. 37)
• Numeric Variable Types (p. 39)
• Constants (p. 44)
• Day 3 Statements, Expressions, and Operators (p. 55)
• Statements (p. 55)
• Understanding Expressions (p. 58)
• Operators (p. 59)
• The if Statement (p. 68)
• Evaluating Relational Expressions (p. 73)
• The Logical Operators (p. 76)
• Operator Precedence Revisited (p. 82)
• Day 4 Functions: The Basics (p. 87)
• What Is a Function? (p. 87)
• How a Function Works (p. 90)
• Functions and Structured Programming (p. 92)
• Writing a Function (p. 95)
• Passing Arguments to a Function (p. 104)
• Calling Functions (p. 105)
• Where the Functions Belong (p. 109)
• Day 5 Basic Program Control (p. 113)
• Arrays: The Basics (p. 114)
• Controlling Program Execution (p. 115)
• Nested Loops (p. 132)
• Day 6 Fundamentals of Input and Output (p. 137)
• Displaying Information Onscreen (p. 138)
• Inputting Numeric Data with scanf() (p. 147)
• Day 7 Using Numeric Arrays (p. 157)
• What Is an Array? (p. 157)
• Naming and Declaring Arrays (p. 163)
• Week 1 In Review (p. 177)
• Week 2 At a Glance (p. 183)
• Where You're Going (p. 183)
• Day 8 Understanding Pointers (p. 185)
• What Is a Pointer? (p. 186)
• Pointers and Simple Variables (p. 187)
• Pointers and Variable Types (p. 191)
• Pointers and Arrays (p. 192)
• Pointer Cautions (p. 200)
• Array Subscript Notation and Pointers (p. 201)
• Passing Arrays to Functions (p. 201)
• Passing Pointers to Functions (p. 206)
• Type void Pointers (p. 210)
• Day 9 Characters and Strings (p. 217)
• The char Data Type (p. 217)
• Using Character Variables (p. 218)
• Using Strings (p. 220)
• Strings and Pointers (p. 221)
• Strings Without Arrays (p. 221)
• Displaying Strings and Characters (p. 227)
• Reading Strings from the Keyboard (p. 229)
• Day 10 Structures (p. 239)
• Simple Structures (p. 240)
• More Complex Structures (p. 243)
• Arrays of Structures (p. 248)
• Initializing Structures (p. 252)
• Structures and Pointers (p. 255)
• Unions (p. 264)
• Creating Synonyms for Structures with typedef (p. 269)
• Day 11 Understanding Variable Scope (p. 273)
• What Is Scope? (p. 274)
• External Variables (p. 276)
• Local Variables (p. 278)
• Local Variables and the main() Function (p. 284)
• Which Storage Class Should You Use? (p. 284)
• Local Variables and Blocks (p. 285)
• Day 12 Advanced Program Control (p. 291)
• Ending Loops Early (p. 292)
• The goto Statement (p. 296)
• Infinite Loops (p. 298)
• The switch Statement (p. 302)
• Exiting the Program (p. 310)
• Executing Commands from Within a Program (p. 311)
• Day 13 Working with the Screen and Keyboard (p. 317)
• Streams and C (p. 317)
• C's Stream Functions (p. 320)
• Accepting Keyboard Input (p. 321)
• Screen Output (p. 334)
• Redirecting Input and Output (p. 344)
• When to Use fprintf() (p. 347)
• Day 14 Pointers: Beyond the Basics (p. 351)
• Pointers to Pointers (p. 352)
• Pointers and Multidimensional Arrays (p. 353)
• Arrays of Pointers (p. 361)
• Pointers to Functions (p. 370)
• Functions That Return a Pointer (p. 380)
• Linked Lists (p. 382)
• Week 2 In Review (p. 405)
• Week 3 At a Glance (p. 413)
• Where You're Going (p. 413)
• Day 15 Using Disk Files (p. 415)
• Streams and Disk Files (p. 415)
• Types of Disk Files (p. 416)
• Filenames (p. 416)
• Opening a File (p. 416)
• Writing and Reading File Data (p. 420)
• File Buffering: Closing and Flushing Files (p. 430)
• Sequential Versus Random File Access (p. 431)
• Detecting the End of a File (p. 437)
• File Management Functions (p. 440)
• Using Temporary Files (p. 445)
• Day 16 Manipulating Strings (p. 451)
• String Length and Storage (p. 451)
• Copying Strings (p. 453)
• Concatenating Strings (p. 457)
• Comparing Strings (p. 460)
• Searching Strings (p. 463)
• String-to-Number Conversions (p. 469)
• Character Test Functions (p. 471)
• tolower() and toupper() (p. 475)
• Day 17 Exploring the C Function Library (p. 481)
• Mathematical Functions (p. 481)
• Dealing with Time (p. 485)
• Error-Handling Functions (p. 491)
• Functions That Have Variable Numbers of Arguments (p. 496)
• Searching and Sorting (p. 499)
• Day 18 Working with Memory (p. 511)
• Type Conversions (p. 511)
• Allocating Memory Storage Space (p. 515)
• Manipulating Memory Blocks (p. 522)
• Working with Bits (p. 524)
• Day 19 Processes and Signals (p. 535)
• Processes (p. 535)
• Signals (p. 549)
• Day 20 Advanced Compiler Use (p. 561)
• The C Preprocessor (p. 561)
• Predefined Macros (p. 571)
• Using Command-Line Arguments (p. 572)
• Command-Line Arguments Using getopt() (p. 574)
• Programming with Multiple Source Files (p. 576)
• Using Shared Libraries (p. 585)
• Day 21 An Introduction to GUI Programming with GTK+ (p. 591)
• History (p. 591)
• X Concepts (p. 592)
• GUIs and Events (p. 594)
• Creating a Dialog Box (p. 602)
• A Simple Text Editor (p. 608)
• Week 3 In Review (p. 621)
• Appendix A ASCII Character Chart (p. 629)
• Appendix B C/C++ Reserved Words (p. 633)
• Appendix C Answers (p. 637)
• Day 1 Introduction to Linux and the C Programming Language (p. 637)
• Day 2 The Components of a C Program: Code and Data (p. 639)
• Day 3 Statements, Expressions, and Operators (p. 641)
• Day 4 Functions: The Basics (p. 643)
• Day 5 Basic Program Control (p. 647)
• Day 6 Fundamentals of Input and Output (p. 649)
• Day 7 Using Numeric Arrays (p. 653)
• Day 8 Understanding Pointers (p. 657)
• Day 9 Characters and Strings (p. 660)
• Day 10 Structures (p. 664)
• Day 11 Understanding Variable Scope (p. 666)
• Day 12 Advanced Program Control (p. 670)
• Day 13 Working with the Screen and Keyboard (p. 672)
• Day 14 Pointers: Beyond the Basics (p. 673)
• Day 15 Using Disk Files (p. 675)
• Day 16 Manipulating Strings (p. 676)
• Day 17 Exploring the C Function Library (p. 678)
• Day 18 Working with Memory (p. 679)
• Day 19 Processes and Signals (p. 681)
• Day 20 Advanced Compiler Use (p. 682)
• Day 21 An Introduction to GUI Programming with GTK+ (p. 683)
• Type and Run 1 Printing Your Listings (p. 685)
• The First Type and Run (p. 686)
• Type and Run 2 Find the Number (p. 689)
• Type and Run 3 Secret Messages (p. 693)
• Type and Run 4 Counting Characters (p. 697)
• Type and Run 5 Calculating Mortgage Payments (p. 701)
• Index (p. 705)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Erik de Castro Lopo is a professional Research and Develpoment engineer who lives and works in Sydney Australia. He used UNIX extensively while at University and discovered Linux in 1995. He is a regular visitor to the Linux Usenet newsgroups, has contributed bug fixes to many open source projects and has also released some of his own code under the GNU General Public License.