Submission timeline
2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
First comments on top threads
HN comment orderI feel like I wrote that a decade ago. Wait. Damn. It WAS a decade ago. Amazingly the list is still relevant. I will try to check out the new suggestions on this thread.
I found that, after learning the basics of the language via K&R or a similar book, the best way to get a good understanding of C and its weird corner cases and eccentricities is just to go through the comp.lang.c FAQ page. http://c-faq.com/index.html It's pretty comprehensive, and I found the level was pretty good for a "not total newbie, but still not familiar with the subtilties" level that can be kind of hard to find resources for.
As much as C is fantastic to work with, as the general idea of a low/high level language whose compilers are easy to implement, its pain points are annoying. Integer conversions, literals, unhygienic macros, inconsistent library, overflows, zero-ended strings are all very very fastidious to work with. I really hope that Zig will grow up because it seems the best promising alternative to C right now. In 20 years or so it might even get a significant market share... Then…
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11606296
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
- Breakout years
- 2
- Total points
- 708
- Total comments
- 251
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
Every submission
| Date | Title as submitted | By | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-12-23 | To become a good C programmer | fuad | 4 | 0 |
| 2016-05-01 | To become a good C programmer (2011)First breakout | __john | 272 | 103 |
| 2019-08-06 | To become a good C programmer (2011) (book recommendations) | NieDzejkob | 1 | 0 |
| 2020-02-14 | To become a good C programmer (2011)Best thread | 6581 | 364 | 132 |
| 2021-08-01 | To become a good C programmer (2011)Hall induction · Latest 20+ point return | davikrr | 62 | 15 |
| 2025-09-24 | To become a good C programmer (2011) | pykello | 4 | 0 |
| 2026-04-24 | To become a good C programmer (2011) | downbad_ | 1 | 1 |