Teaching C at the university. Need advice?

Question

C++ / C#

Happy holiday, programmers!
I would like to hear your opinion/advice. The situation is such that I (and several other people) were asked to introduce the first course during the semester to the language C. I am the fourth year and, of course, I have never taught. You tell them "debugger" - they get scared. Something else - they get even more scared :)
I would like to somehow brighten up this learning process. I myself write in C only under MK and somehow I’m already used to coping with difficulties, reading documentation, but it’s still difficult for them.
In general, here it is. And yes, if it's not difficult, what kind of books would you recommend for the very beginners (people only from the school bench and most have at best two Pascal classes).
I will be immensely grateful.

Answer 1

One of the reasons for the popularity of C is the K&R book, it is very well written and the basic language from it is still suitable today.

Answer 2

When I taught (albeit at school), I tried to find interesting and not too difficult tasks that would be foreseeable and give at least some return (satisfaction).
This is highly motivating. And I tried to integrate the whole process of learning the possibilities of the IDE and debugging as much as possible into the context of the implementation of these small tasks. After all, even a small program needs debugging.
I will give examples of tasks that immediately come to mind:
- Sorting numbers
- Building a pascal triangle
- Draw a formatted multiplication table
- Sort the entered numbers
- Sea battle
And so on... It is important not to allow the student to be immediately thrown into the embrasure. From this, they are usually frightened and begin to hate the subject.
By the way, the apotheosis of my teaching was the writing of graphic dial clocks reflecting real time (So I also taught the eleventh graders the basics of geometry :-)).
Good luck to you!

Answer 3

From my point of view, the best book for beginners is the book by the Berezins , which was used as a textbook for students of the Moscow State University. I used it when I taught the language C to schoolchildren of grades 9-10 at the VMK evening school.
I tried to focus on data structures and came up with interesting puzzles for their use.

Answer 4

I have been teaching at the university for 4 years.

• Herbet Schildt 's books are very popular among teachers . But in general, any for dummies will do, they are all more or less the same, focused on a beginner.
• C syntax alone is not enough. I don’t know what your situation is, but most likely you will have to develop the skills of simple algorithmization among the people.
  Before sorting, it's best to start with the basics. conditions, cycles. Give it at least one activity. let them go through this before, there will always be those who overslept everything or did not understand.
  
• The course, as I understand it, is the first, the people will most likely be heterogeneous.
  It will always be that someone does not understand, and someone is bored.
  There are even those that cannot rename or create a text file.
  Something will need to be done about this.
  I, in turn, divided them into two subgroups and dealt with each separately.
  
• You should watch your language, do not speak slang, gradually introduce terms.
• The main thing is not to go too far and carefully monitor whether they understand you.

And one more thing, in preparation:
Gather all the materials. Write yourself a plan of what you will tell for each lecture for the whole year before. I usually plan for 15-16 weeks of lectures. In my specialty, a semester lasts 18-19 weeks.
Plus, it is worth planning practical, control, laboratory. They must be synchronized with the lectures. Tasks, options for tasks are also better to prepare in advance.
In order not to get confused about what to give and what not to give, you can use the specialty curriculum. He is usually in the dean's office or at the department. This document contains guidelines on what to give, to what extent and what they should then be able to do. You add your IHMO to this plan and your lectures are obtained. According to the rules, you can add up to 20% of your material. In reality, hardly anyone will consider these percentages for you.
If this is not done immediately, then there is a high probability of coming to the lecture unprepared. And if you are not ready, you start to spontaneously carry everything. There is a possibility that this stream of thought will simply not be perceived.
And so good luck, it's hard work - to work with the first course. It seems to me even more difficult than with schoolchildren. Because it hurts they are all different in their level.
If you have any more questions, write in a personal, I will help as much as I can.