Modern C by Jens Gustedt

Hello there,

This week, I finished reading Modern C by Jens Gustedt. The book is updated and covers several C23 features. The most challenging part for me was maintaining focus and working through the exercises to understand the concepts well.

It's so easy to fall into the trap of feeling behind when everyone is talking about AI and the latest changes in the world while you're still working hard to grasp the fundamentals.

I believe those who manage to stay AI-independent will have better long-term opportunities. Don't get me wrong, AI can be useful, but I'm learning to treat it as a tool, not something that makes me dependent or less capable.

Modern C, Third Edition

By Jens Gustedt

Released: August 2025
Publisher: Manning
ISBN: 9781633437777

Modern C covers C23 language features and offers insights to help you avoid common pitfalls.

No use of foo or bar in this book. Jens prefers the French equivalents such as truc, toto, and bidule, which gives it an original touch.

Nostalgic! This book brought back memories from 2011 when I was learning complex concepts of data structures and algorithms for signal and image processing. Man, what a time having fun converting between decimal, hexadecimal, and binary, and using unions and masks to configure microprocessors like PIC and ARM7.

It is incredible to see how much quality of life C23 brings, and the book explains many details.

Jens covers a wide range of topics, so make sure to be patient as you work through the concepts, exercises, and challenges.

The goto statement is still present, but it is used mainly for controlled error handling or cleanup paths rather than general program flow. Surprised to see goto? Then you should also get familiar with setjmp and longjmp.

Threads remain a complex topic. It is essential to understand atomic objects and synchronization mechanisms such as thrd_join and mtx_lock.

If you are serious about programming in C, this book is a must-read. It will help you become a more confident and effective C programmer.

If you enjoyed this edition, the best compliment you can give is to share it with someone who might appreciate it too.