#3 in the ranking · technical · 1978
The C Programming Language
The C Programming Language, by Kernighan and Ritchie, published in 1978, is cited by 431 people in conversations on Hacker News, Stack Exchange and TabNews. It shows up in all 20 years, from 2007 to 2026, with the most mentions in 2022. People who cite it also cite Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, Introduction to Algorithms and Code Complete.
Year by year
Peak: 71 mentions in 2022
Mentions per year: 2007: 2; 2008: 21; 2009: 19; 2010: 38; 2011: 53; 2012: 34; 2013: 17; 2014: 15; 2015: 28; 2016: 33; 2017: 29; 2018: 27; 2019: 13; 2020: 28; 2021: 24; 2022: 71; 2023: 18; 2024: 16; 2025: 14; 2026: 1.
Where it’s cited
What people write
From a text search; it doesn’t yet tell recommending apart from just mentioning.
Brian wrote The C Programming Language (the book), along with many other great books.
Hacker News · 2025 · in “Ask HN: What fiction/non-fiction book should everyone read on the topic of CS?” · see comment ↗
I get a kick when I see "The Art of Electronics" and "The C Programming Language" still being recommended on the regular.
Hacker News · 2024 · in “The Hacker News Top books of 2023” · see comment ↗
I do have some recommendations of good examples of technical writing and right on top of the list is the C programming language closely followed by anything written by Brian Kernighan.
Hacker News · 2022 · in “Ask HN: Any great books about technical writing?” · see comment ↗
Learning standard C from K&R is still the best source; though I'm not sure if I would trust their sections on how to setup your environment.
Stack Exchange · 2011 · in “Is there an expiration date for well regarded, but old books on programming?” · by dr jimbob · CC BY-SA 3.0 · see comment ↗
It's not a tutorial book, but it's hands-down the best book on C (even over K&R in my opinion).
Stack Exchange · 2009 · in “After K&R what book to use to learn programming in plain C?” · by Michael Burr · CC BY-SA 2.5 · see comment ↗
The development of the C programming language.
Stack Exchange · 2025 · in “Books for Design Principles Behind C” · by Pseudonym · CC BY-SA 4.0 · see comment ↗
Para aprender C recomendo o famoso K&R C programming language.
TabNews · 2023 · in “Livros sobre Algoritmos e Estruturas de dados?” · see comment ↗
Troque por livros como "The C Programming Language" (K&R) ou "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" (SICP), que obrigam você a codificar.
TabNews · 2025 · in “[DUVIDA] Como ler mais livros tecnicos?” · see comment ↗
"The C Programming Language" de Brian W.
TabNews · 2023 · see comment ↗