C Programming

C is a small language. The whole thing fits in a thin book, and there is almost nothing between what you write and what the processor does. That is its appeal and its danger in the same breath: nothing is checked, nothing is hidden, and a mistake with a pointer does not raise an exception — it corrupts memory somewhere else and surfaces as a bug three functions away an hour later.

Learning it changes how you read every other language. Once you have managed memory by hand, garbage collection stops being invisible, a Python list stops being magic, and the entire design of Rust suddenly makes obvious sense. That perspective is the real reason to take this course, more than any intention to write C professionally.

Pointers are the whole difficulty and the whole point, so they get a module to themselves with five separate explanations in it. Most people bounce off pointers once, come back, and find them straightforward on the second attempt — so if the first pass does not land, that is the normal experience rather than a verdict, and the next lesson down is the second attempt. It helps a great deal to have done the How Computers Work course first, because a pointer is much less mysterious once you know what memory physically is.

About four hours required. The optional lessons run to about forty-five more, including three alternative full courses and Dr Chuck's eighteen-hour treatment built around Kernighan and Ritchie. Compile and run everything; C is not a language you can learn by watching.