The following ramblings come with some free software....
My client recently asked me to quote for a job that involves writing C code for Linux. Although I've been using the operating system for some while and have done a good deal of C programming in the past, I'd not previously married the two, so having a few days to spare decided it would be a good time to resurrect my lapsed skills.
I started looking around for a project to learn on and on an ancient archive CD came across a text editor I first wrote in about 1985 and which hasn't been touched since 1992. This seemed a good place to start.
I don't have any books on C programming for Linux, and the ones at Amazon etc. are expensive. Then I came across a free book at
http://www.advancedlinuxprogramming.com/
which I rate as a first-class introduction to the subject and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone else wanting to do 'C'.
Back to the text editor, dubbed VUE (Very Useful Editor). This is a simple text editor for the (Linux) console. Many people who, like me, have only the occasional need for text editing in the console, find vi counter-intuitive and emacs too heavy. Both require frequent recourse to the manual unless they are used regularly.
I first wrote VUE in the mid 1980s in an attempt to emulate some of the features of the (then) new Apple Macintosh, but as a text-only product for the system I was using at the time. I particularly wanted a modeless editor and one that incorporates help as a natural part of the way it works. In these days of GUI interfaces, heavy text editing is catered for by a wealth of products, with little need to use console-based editors like vi and emacs. If like me you're an occasional user of the console you might find VUE works for you, or you might find it irritating and limited. If the latter, the source is supplied for you do do better with.
VUE is currently available for download at http://www.zen18103.zen.co.uk/vue/index.html.
-- GT