Learning C was quite difficult for me. The basics of the language itself weren’t so bad, but “programming in C” requires a lot of other kinds of knowledge which aren’t as easy to pick up on:

- C has no environment which smooths out platform or OS differences; you need to know about your platform too
- there are many C compiler options and build tools, making even running a simple program involve lots of decisions
- there are important concepts related to CPUs, OSes, compiled code in general
- it’s used in such varied ways that there’s far less a centralised “community” or style than other languages

This page is a living collection of summaries, signposts, and advice for these broader points that made my journey with C and other compiled languages easier. I hope it’s useful to you!