My Errata for C Programming in easy steps 3rd edition: article 201201

C Programming in easy steps 3^rd edition

Author: Mike McGrath

Published by Easy Steps Limited

www.ineasysteps.com

http://ineasysteps.com/products-page/programming/c-programming-in-easy-steps-3rd-edition/

I think this book’s format is a great way for a beginner to wade into C programming however, even on its third edition there are several typos both in the verbiage and examples. I saw this as a challenge because it forced me to really investigate and understand the code in the examples.  Others may see this as a frustration and deter them from using the book.  Because I like the book so much, especially its lack of “fluff” and it’s great format I promote it to others, with the caveat that there are many typos.   I have yet to find errata on the web so I thought I would help my friends and peers out by listing errors and corrections out myself and maybe Easy Steps will throw another book my way (like maybe Java 4^th edition, or SQL or both…)

So here I go:

Page 33 in step 2 of the example last line of the code snippet

Reads: double decimal = 0.123459;

Should Read: double decimal = 0.1234569;

Page 48 in step 2 of the example (there should be a space between DEBUG and 1

Reads: #define DEBUG1

Should Read: #define DEGUG 1

Page 65 the entire example is off.   The author is trying to get from x= 10 to y = 5 using XOR to flip bits to have x=5 and y=10; however, coding and running the example as presented ends with x=15 and y=5.  The typo is found in step 3 the last line in the comment section:

Reads: /*1111 ^ 1010 = 0101 (decimal 5)*/

Should Read (based on XOR, the numbers provided, and how the code is written): /*1010 ^ 0101 = 1111 (decimal 15)*/

So this is a combo of a typo and inaccurate coding.

The output in the image should have the second line of x= and y= as such

Reads: x=5 y=10

Should Read: x=15 y=5

Page 75 in step 2 the line of code has misplaced left curly bracket

Reads: int num = 2 ; char letter = ‘b’;  }

Should Read: int num = 2 ; char letter = ‘b’; 

Page 76 in Step 2 the line of code has a misplaced left curly bracket

Reads: int I, j; }

Should Read: int I, j; 

Page 141 in step there is a period where a comma should be

Reads: file_ptr = fopen( “data.txt” . “w”) ;

Should Read:  file_ptr = fopen( “data.txt” , “w”) ;

Page 144 in step 1 there in an include file string.h complete missing; it is needed call strcpy

Reads:  #include

Should Read:  #include

                           #include

That is all I came across, at least that I notated as I read the book.  Of course there could be more in the books verbiage and appendix etc… I did complete every example given in the book and they worked, eventually, so I believe I have caught all of those.  I hope this helps and I hope a 4^th edition is printed with corrections because I really do believe it is a great beginner’s book.

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