This book is specifically for open source developers who need to know modern C. The C programming language is the foundation of open source and most modern operating systems-Linux, FreeBSD, and all other current versions of Unix-are written in it. In addition, popular languages like Perl and Python are also written in C. C is powerful and stable, and yet its syntax and concepts can trip up new programmers and, of course, developers coming from other languages.

That's where this book comes in. Rather than inundating you with concepts without context, C for Open Source Programmers will explain exactly what you need to know to survive an open source project. Through clear-cut examples, you'll see the implementation of basic concepts like linked lists and pointers as well as more advanced concepts like double pointers and advanced memory management.

Along the way, you'll also learn effective coding and commenting styles and important C idioms. You'll get an inside look at real-world open source C-based applications like wget, OpenSSH, UNIX daemons, and device drivers in order to better understand how they work.