![\"5th](\"http:\/\/c-for-dummies.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/C-blog-5th-anniversary.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Five years (plus eight days) ago, this blog went public with its first post<\/a>. It was several months before the companion book, Beginning Programming with C For Dummies<\/em> appeared, but I wanted the blog to be well-stocked with posts for those first, eager readers. Figure 1. The first C For Dummies<\/em> covered a two-volume set; Vol. I (1994), Vol. II (1997).<\/p><\/div>\n The volumes were necessary because I wanted to cover C in gentle, measured pace that would appeal to beginners. It took three years to finish Volume II because the publisher pulled me off the C For Dummies<\/em> project to work on other books.<\/p>\n When it came time for the C99 update, the publisher opted for a “thinner” book. My efforts resulted in the 800+ page-long C All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies<\/em>, Figure 2. This title remains the most popular, though it’s pretty dated and has a hefty errata.<\/p>\n Figure 2. This C title remains the most popular, despite being dated. (2004)<\/p><\/div>\n At the same time as the All-In-One<\/em> came out, the publisher wanted me to write and update to the original two-volume set, C For Dummies<\/em>, which would move at a slower pace. That book, shown in Figure 3, is only 380 pages, so it leaves out a lot of the C language. I put in my best, but I’m not pleased with the results because the book omits a lot C.<\/p>\n Figure 2. The “second edition” of C For Dummies<\/em> is in reference to the first, two-volume set. (2004)<\/p><\/div>\n During this time, the website supported the books with occasional updates and bonus material. The site remained rather static, however. I wanted to do more frequent updates, but the site lacked any form of content management.<\/p>\n For the C11 update, I was given the opportunity to write a new C language For Dummies<\/em> title, which became Beginning Programming with C For Dummies<\/em> (2013). This is the current title, and I desired to tie it in tightly with this website: I created answers to exercises for this site, along with comments and updates. I also opted to use WordPress to host a blog. I would update it weekly with Lessons and monthly with Exercises and have been doing so successfully for five years now. That’s a total of 367 posts for almost 180,000 words of bonus material.<\/p>\n For this, the anniversary Lesson, I’ve concocted an attempt at obfuscated C. I enjoyed running programs like this when I first learned programming. Have fun!<\/p>\n This post marks five years of weekly C blog Lessons and monthly Exercises. Continue reading
\n
\nThis website, c-for-dummies.com, is far older than the blog. I first hosted this site back in 1997. It was a companion to the two-volume set, C For Dummies<\/em>, shown in Figure 1. Historically, this is the only two-volume For Dummies<\/em> title and also the longest single title at over 1,000 pages. The publisher promised me that they’d never do that again!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/c-for-dummies.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/cvols1-2.png\")
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/c-for-dummies.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/caio.png\")
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/c-for-dummies.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/c2nd.png\")
\r\n#include <stdio.h>\r\n\r\nint main()\r\n{\r\n int m[] = {\r\n 0x2821, 0x3030, 0x3900, 0x212E, 0x2E29,\r\n 0x3625, 0x3233, 0x2132, 0x3901, 0x0000\r\n };\r\n int x = 0;\r\n\r\n while(m[x])\r\n {\r\n printf(\"%c%c\",\r\n (m[x] >> 8) + 32,\r\n (m[x] & 0x00FF) + 32\r\n );\r\n x++;\r\n }\r\n putchar('\\n');\r\n\r\n return(0);\r\n}<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"