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[CaffeineAddict]

But everytime I want to create something from scratch all I can remember is:

That's quite normal, you should have few tabs open at all times when coding.
I don't think there is a single developer that can code much out their head alone, there's just too much to it, nobody has Intel CPU in their head.

Keep 1 tab open to StackOverflow, 1 tab to library reference you're working with, 1 tab to C standard and 1 more to search the web, keep as as many as you need, there's no rule, the point is you do need internet and quick responses.

Keep few PDF's too such as gdb debugger book, mastering gdb is important to deal with strange behaviors in your code.

Wait, this means that the K&R book of C is not enough?

Sorry I don't know anything of this book, I "learned" C ByTheWay when I was into C++ and assembly recently because C is unavoidable for these.
Whether this book is enough depends, not every book is good for beginners.

I tought that just by repeating the same source codes I saw written on the book and on some youtube tutorials was enough to learn to code with C.

Don't bother to type code out of a book, copy it instead quickly compile and study what it does, practice by typing is waste of time.

Tip of all times that helps me learn a new language quickly is this:

Spend a week or two on theory only without coding anything (from a book, copy samples from book study it etc.).
Then start working on a simple project.
The sample project will force you revisit your book and theory, keep working on it and complete your sample.

When you're done with your 1st project you'll already feel confident to try something bigger without any help from books.

edit:
There ARE things you do need to memorize though, you need to memorize how to write a loop for instance and some basic C functions such as memcmp, malloc, free, memcpy, printf etc.etc. and stuff that is a matter of the language itself.
You need to memorize the whole language ONLY.

But memorizing some external libraries is pointless, if you remember that it's OK but don't force it.

 

[Perpetual Padawan]

Welcome! It looks like another techno-wizard I can learn from has arrived. I'm delighted to make your acquaintance.

 

[MikeRocor]

Wait, this means that the K&R book of C is not enough?

Surprisingly enough, the "new tesatment" will get you a good handle on the C language but to truly grok it you'll need any or all of * additional book study, * classroom study under a good instructor, * mentoring, * real world experience.

But everytime I want to create something from scratch all I can remember is:

#include <stdio.h>
  int main(){
  prinf("Hello, world\n");
  return 0;
}

and then my mind is completely blank afterwards... I don't know it's just that I notice that coding is not the same as drawing or music production where, just by playing with shapes and melodies you can be able to create something new out of it.

Re. hello world - that really covers so much of the basics.

Re. shapes, melodies, creating something new - when it starts to feel like drawing or music (assuming you're a drawing or music kind of guy), then you will have arrived. The whole bit with '&' and '*' and pointers several levels deep makes it interesting, but once you get a really good handle on that, you'll wonder why anyone ever has trouble with pointers. You will be a bona fide geek and will never again be able to function in normal society.

Good luck.

 

[theLegionWithin]

Wait, this means that the K&R book of C is not enough?

I used the same book ~30 years ago trying to teach myself C. never really got anywhere with it - made some msdos-based screensavers but that's about it. back then (mid/late 90s) there just werent that many resources outside of school/college other than books. the Internet was still developing - I dont think I even really used Google search until after 2000 (or thereabouts) and what search engines did exist, they werent that good (from memory, it's been a long, long time). I could easily be misremembering as well.

these days there's an absolute wealth of resources - so many different platforms that offer free knowledge and you dont really even need to search much to find it.

 

[MikeRocor]

I used the same book ~30 years ago trying to teach myself C. never really got anywhere with it -

I tried learning C that way and with the help of a close friend who was a computer science grad from CMU. My friend really knew his programming, especially C, but he probably wasn't the best tutor for me. We both had Amigas and he was trying to teach me GUI programming in C so even to write "Hello World" he had me instantiate a window structure and a bitmap within that, load a font and then get the text string drawn in the font, etc, etc. Even now I probably have the details of that wrong, but you get the picture. But I -didn't- get the picture back then and eventually set it aside for a later day.

When that "later day" came and I actually took a C programming class at the local community college, the instructor started with a simple Hello World in the console on MS DOS and every time he introduced a new concept, I was thinking, "Yeah, I knew that". I realized that my friend had actually taught me all the basics of C, lacking only a simple result to demonstrate it. The end result was that, to my classroom instructor, I looked like some kind of prodigy. Unbeknownst to me, that instructor was a principal in a consulting firm and his two partners were also instructors at the college, teaching networking and database classes. By the time I'd taken each of their classes, they took me aside and said, "You've been on a long job interview for the last three semesters and we've got work for you." And, OMG, I was going to actually get -paid- for this stuff.